It's Time To Toss The Bloody Dice
by maunderse
Summary: Naruto, after years of hate, neglect and lack of emotional care, decides to leave Konoha - through a twist of fate, Sasuke tags along. Together they will attempt to create new bonds with one another, and to create a better, brighter future. Along the way they will meet many people, and find many places, but their destination is a home that now lies forgotten: Uzushiogakure.
1. False Vindication of the Vindictive

**Yo, this is a little piece; tell me if you enjoy. **

**It's basically just my take on a realistic way of Naruto becoming a missing nin, without all the half-arsed bullshit like "I dont like Konoha any more, lets watch it butn" or "Kill the demon" and some guy just has to respond "Sure, i'll grant your illogical request cus I'm god". And this is it.**

**Constructive criticism is very much appreciated. **

**And lastly, Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Naruto, those rights fall to the creator. The only things I own are of my own creation. And my T.v, Pc, six pack of coke, and comfy arse chair.**

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Naruto ran his hand through the blonde mop that was his hair; it felt sticky and wet, obviously from a hard days work training and a thorough amount of sweat. He didn't really care that he looked as tired and ragged as he did, it showed he had worked hard; something to be proud of.

He had always strove to be better than he was, to be better than the best; this could only be achieved by those who worked harder than anyone else, to be the best. He had done well in that pursuit, pushing his very limits; but, alas, it had not made his terrible life any better – in fact, it had made it worse.

Looking out across the village, he scowled – this was the village that had wronged him so. Throughout the years, all the ones that consisted of his short life, it had treated him like nothing more than dirt – worse, even.

At first it had been the orphanage, – his parents had died the night of the Kyuubi Incident, leaving him alone – where they had neglected him in so may ways: not feeding him, beating him, poisoning him, not letting him near other kids (which also stunted his social development), not clothing him properly and not even cleaning him properly. And, with these forms of neglect, he had developed cases of illnesses – although, they had usually disappeared very quickly –, social retardation, general retardation, deprivation dwarfism (the lack of physical height caused by lack of emotional care), malnutrition and a large desire for attention that lead him to doing unsavoury, or even criminal actions to gain attention.

All in all they had fucked him up something rotten; yet he had suffered far worse when he had been kicked out of the orphanage – yes, kicked out of a council funded institute by those 'magnanimous' 'care' workers. Worst thing was, he was only four.

So, at age four he had set off into the big wide world – or village, really. At first he hadn't known what to do – who would when they were only four years old and retarded? - but he had quickly gotten into a routine of scavenging and stealing, developing a way to stay alive.

For two years he had lived on the streets, fending for himself from local gangs, eating the dirtiest of foods, sleeping outside on the most wet and cold of nights, and having absolutely no contact with people unless it was the end of their fists or feet. Thus, he had gotten even worse intellectually, socially and by ways of physical health.

He had eventually found a piece of light amongst the darkness; the Sandaime Hokage had found him wobbling down the streets in tattered and torn clothes, smelling worse than the dumps, and having blood trailing down his face from the latest beating.

'What happened to you, child?' he had asked in a worried tone, naturally Naruto had flinched from human contact, as used to the beatings as he was.

The old man must have realised then that he was scared of him. 'Do not worry, young one; I will not hurt you, I swear' he had promised, as he got down to one knee so that he was the same height as Naruto. 'Tell me what your name is and were you live, and I will take you back to your parents'.

Startled by his sudden warmth and kindness, he had no idea what do do other than comply. 'N-N-Naru-ruto' he had stuttered, still not knowing how to talk at the age of six; 'Uzuu-m-mazi'. We did not even realise he had said his own last name wrong, but the old man had.

He had watched as the Hokage's face distorted between so many emotions: shock, rage, kindness, sympathy. At first Naruto thought he was angry with him and had attempted to flee, but his strong hand had clasped Naruto's shoulder, not letting him run. 'Wait, child; I will not hurt you' he had swore again.

It had taken a while after that, but he had finally managed to piece together a sentence that resembled what he meant when the old man had asked him why he wasn't in the orphanage: ' I was told not to come back, I'm a bad Demon'.

That day, Naruto had found himself in the care of many masked men, who he would later find out were Anbu Black opts. For weeks he stayed there, learning how to speak, clean himself, cook, wash, all the things a normal person needed.

He had then been moved into an apartment, an old, run down complex that looked like it might collapse tomorrow. He hadn't complained, though; instead he had cried and thanked the old man profusely – no-one had ever shown him such kindness.

And so, for the time being, at least, he had lived happily, content in his peace. The Hokage visited regularly, dropping off his stipend, teaching him about social functions, more on how to speak and more. Other days he would take Naruto out, to the park, Hokage Monument, Hokage tower, anywhere Naruto had wanted. It had been wonderful, having someone care for him.

He had gained more loved ones, aswell. The Ichiraku's, a small family of father and daughter who ran a small ramen stand, had accepted him and treated him with nothing but kindness. Most days he go down their and order bowls and bowls full of ramen, just to stay and chat with them. Sometimes they even let him eat for free. God, he hoped they were in a better place right now.

He had joined the Academy for Ninja a year later, one year earlier than normal. It had been fun and boring at first, making new friends and learning crappy facts – knowledge was never his favourite thing, unless it pertained to physical prowess such as jutsu. Eventually, though, parents had sowed the seeds of hate within their children, starting from subtle warnings, a clever play on the pranks he did as a way of validation, and eventually just blunt demands that they no longer went near Naruto. He was alone again, and bored. Very bored.

The days after that had been spent in immature stupidity and naivety. He started by trying to gain attention, this was achieved through his horrendous, orange jump-suit; and his childish pranks that had earned him the moniker of "Konoha's Prankster King From Hell". Suffice to say, it had worked – just not the way he planned.

The beatings had come thick and fast, from that point on. He could get beaten up by villagers or bullies at least once a week, sometimes twice or even thrice a week. It had been horrible, especially as he had not fully understood why it happened, but he had carried on. He could solve anything he wanted by just believing he could, believe it! What a foolish notion.

Everything still had time to get worse, though. After this he had been determined to prove he was the best, even if the instructors neglected and sabotaged him. He grew to hate knowledge, for how could knowing that the Shodaime Hokage particularly hated tea, even begin to help him win a fight? How foolish could he have been? Very. He started hindering himself, making it easier for the civilians to get him, all because of his own arrogance.

His stupidity had eventually lead to the harm of others: the Ichiraku family. Because they had served and fed Naruto, when all other stores refused to, the civilians had taken it upon themselves to teach these "traitors" a lesson. They had taken the two, Teuchi-oji-san and Ayeme-nechan, and had done things too them that no civilian should ever have to face.

They had 'asked' the family to stop serving the "Demon Child", but the family had stood steadfastly by their loyalty to Naruto – he wished they hadn't. From the odd pieces of what he had heard had happened to them, he swore he would never let the men who did that die a peaceful death. He never thought the two would go through torture for him, and eventually die at the hands of those men.

That day Naruto had finally given in to the nagging voice at the back of his mind; "revile them, hate them!" it had whispered in his head, and so he had. He decided he would no longer love this village, no longer trust it; he would now move forward for himself, trust only himself and those who proved themselves, love only himself and those he chose to; no longer would he be the villages personal punching bag. _One day_, he had promised, _I will leave you all behind, I will seek my own freedom_.

He had changed shortly after; no longer did he prank, no longer did he wear that awful jump-suit, no longer did he refuse to learn; he was now the model student, silent, listened to every word, revised, practised constantly, done all extra curriculum activities, and most of all, he learnt why.

He remembered that day perfectly...

"Who are you?" Naruto had asked calmly, coldly.

The man in question looked at Naruto impassively, a stoic expression marked his face. His stoicism matched with the way he held himself told Naruto a few things as he looked him up and down: he was an experienced Ninja, the way he walked looked more like the stalking prowl of a deadly hunter, silent and deadly; his posture was noble and regal, making it look as though everything else was below him, a member; his red eyes with three tomoe marked the Sharingan, making him an Uchiha; lastly, the blood stained clothes showed he had recently killed.

"I am Itachi Uchiha. To answer your next question; I am here to tell you the reason behind your suffering all these years" he replied, ever so calmly; the blood that dripped from the ends of his clothes and sword did nothing to break said calmness.

Naruto kept his hand on the Kunai that was hidden amongst his clothes, he did not trust this man. He didn't trust him, but he was intrigued by his last statement. "What, pray tell, would that reason be, and why would you tell me?" he asked, his distrust evident in his voice. "You look more like my executioner, dressed in blood as you are".

Itachi chuckled, it was dry and held no mirth. "You seem more calm than what you used to be like" he commented. "But, to answer your questions, I wish to tell you because we are the same".

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto chuckled this time. "Really? So you fear to walk the streets because you may be killed in broad daylight; you are shunned and hated; you wish for nothing but an escape?" he asked darkly.

He watched as Itachi looked at him, sizing him up, looking through him and his innermost workings; he would not admit it, but that look unnerved him more than the ones of hate and spite did, this look was far more dangerous than those. After a few moments Itachi seemed like he had seen enough, and so he threw down a scroll onto Naruto's lap.

"I meant we are the same in the fact that we bare a dark burden to protect Konoha, one that no-one else can; we are – or, in my case, will be – hated for; the way in which neither of us have the love that we want, but cannot attain" Itachi replied calmly, again – it seemed nothing could break his serenity, even talking about something that clearly had, or did, sadden him.

This time, though, it was Naruto who appraised Itachi in a different light. This man was far more complex than he thought. He had spoken of burdens, protecting Konoha, unattainable love and the ever present hate. Some of those things didn't even make sense, like how he was protecting Konoha?

"What do you mean by that, and what is this scroll for?" he asked pointedly, he did not like this beating around the bush.

Itachi turned around then and started walking of, sinking into that prowling step as he glided along the floor like a ghost, without a sound. "That scroll will tell you everything, and help you along. Goodbye, Naruto; I will see you again someday".

And like that he was gone, nothing but leaves in the wind as he disappeared.

For days Naruto had tried to build up the nerve to open up the scroll, he was scared about what he would find inside. Would he really like to find out why a village full of people hated him? He didn't know, he especially didn't like the possibility that the villagers may have been vindicated by their vindictive nature. But he had no choice, he just couldn't know why, it would kill him if he never knew why. So, after days of trepidation, he opened the scroll.

What he found inside of Itachi's scroll had solidified his utter hate for Konoha's older generation, he felt the urge to kill the people who had made his life so difficult. For weeks that feeling of rage would remain, never failing to leave his side, like a faithful shadow. How could human beings be so shallow, so full of hate, so vindictive?

He had schooled himself, though, no reason to lose himself to rage and make things worse.

Reading the rest of the scroll he had found several seals. Apparently, Itachi had known that the Academy had been sabotaging him, or at least tried to. So, with that in mind, he had left compilations of basic knowledge.

These subjects had been difficult and easy in many ways: The art of stealth, which focused on techniques of reducing sound made with movements, how to 'blend in' with the environment, and how to leave as little trace behind that you had ever been there; throwing weapon techniques, motions for faster throws, places to aim for when throwing, how to create a diversion with throwing weapons; Academy Taijutsu, aswell as a unique version of Taijutsu called Kuiken, Fast Fist, a variant of Goken and Juyken that focused on fast and precise strikes that targeted the weak points of the body; and a large variety of other small, but helpful things. He doubted he would have been as good as he was now, had he not received this knowledge.

The real topping on the cake, though, had been the three chakra control exercises: tree climbing, water walking, and an exercise that focused on using chakra to make a solid object levitate off of the user's body by about an inch. Furthermore, there had been the basic elemental techniques that had been within the scroll: a water technique that converted large amounts of chakra into water within one's body, good for the fact that he would never die of thirst, but couldn't produce enough water for a water technique to be effective; a fire technique that could start a fire, useful for cooking food and starting fires to conserve heat; a wind technique that would disperse his sent, so no-one is able to follow him via smell; and lastly there was Shunshin, to help him learn how to send chakra to certain parts of the body. All in all, Itachi had gifted him with useful knowledge that would one day save his life, and not just some flashy jutsu to make him feel cool.

With his now firm grounding in the shinobi arts, he soon claimed the spot at the top of the class, Rookie Of The Year. At first, most were surprised by this sudden turn of events, especially his new class that was the same age as him. Others were angry, like Sasuke who refused to lose to him and constantly challenged him. Taijutsu spars were won with ease by Naruto, his quick understanding of Kuiken allowing him to pick Sasuke apart. Ninjutsu was were he lost, but only just as he was unable to create a Bunshin due to his monstrous chakra reserves; Sasuke didn't feel as good about that victory when Naruto had told him he was simply too powerful to do the Bunshin, he had been enraged. Shurikenjutsu and Kunaijutsu were a tie as both boys hit absolutely perfect, that didn't comfort Sasuke, though. And lastly was academics, Naruto got one-hundred percent on all written tests due to the only thing he did outside of school was revision and training.

Over the years Sasuke continued to push Naruto harder and harder, furthering his skills to the point that he would have been a Genin two years before the norm, had he been able to do the Bunshin. But, alas, it constantly evaded him, always slipping through his fingers at the last moments. Even now.

Yes, now, this present day, he found himself sitting atop the Fourth Hokage's head, looking out across Konohagakure no Sato, the village of the four most powerful Shinobi to ever live, and renown founders of the current Shinobi World. Through the dark night, he could see the lights of homes coming on as families coming home, lights turning of as stores closed. It was beautiful, he had to admit, the calm serenity and calming glow the village gave off as it lit up.

But, through all his observations, one thing stood out above the rest; on the highest floor of the Hokage Tower, the lights to the Hokage's office went out as Hiruzen Sarutobi went home. It was now time for him to steal the 'Test Scroll', as Mizuki-teme had called it, he knew it was really the Forbidden Scroll of Seals. He did not let it show, though, as who was he to not trust his sensei?

Naruto had not been fooled in the slightest as Mizuki-teme had lied to him about the second test to pass for amazing students who couldn't do Bunshin, reserved for those who were exceptional but 'unlucky'. He knew that Mizuki-teme was planning on framing Naruto, killing him and making his own escape. Little did Mizuki realise that he was the puppet and scapegoat that Naruto would use to get what he liked, The Forbidden Scroll of Seals, and afterwards he could just blame Mizuki and say he believed his teacher. How could the old man not by, as sentimental as he was with Naruto. Hell, the Hokage would let Naruto off with anything.

So, with a grin plastering his face, Naruto set off to steal something back from the village that had wronged him so, and he felt vindicated. Tonight would only be the start of the plans for his freedom, as he would soon escape this accursed nightmare that was his life, this corner of hell he called home. Soon, so soon he could taste it, he would break free from his shackles.

"Watch out world, soon you will be meeting Naruto Uzumaki!"

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Well, there you have it.

I have tried to write a little differently to normal by recounting past events and adding as little speech as possible.

Furthermore, I hope that my showing of Naruto's changes and meeting with Itachi were realistic, and easy to understand. I find far too many fic's were Naruto just suddenly decides to hate Konoha and decides to go galavanting across the elemental nations with absolutely no plan.

Last but not least, I would like opinions on what possible jutsu could be within the forbidden scroll of seals: Rasengan, Chidori, shadow clone, are the things i thought to add as they are forbidden (chidori for its tunnel vision and rasengan for it being a Yondaime special (all kage's add their own jutsu to the scroll aswell)). But i'd like some fan creations if possible and any other jutsu that may be forbidden for any reason.

Bye, and see you soon.


	2. The Tiring Existence Of Life

Rikudou Naruto: As always your comments are liked, and much appreciated. First off, Fuinjutsu is a definite, I also like the idea of how he does, so i'll be adding that to what he also learns from the scroll and everywhere else. As for the contract, I really can't decide on one right now, so maybe.

willowskeith: All good ideas, but I wont be following some. For instance, I believe it impossible for Jinchuuriki to do Genjutsu because it's about putting your chakra into the enemies subtly. But Jinchuuriki's chakra is poisonous to others because of it's demonic taint, and so the recipient would realise it is in his system straight away and flush it with his own chakra.

Also, I won't be using Kurama/Kyuubi as too many people rely on him as a crutch, so I'll be sealing it off at the first opportunity I get.

And lastly, your idea of him finding his heritage within the scroll, I kinda did, kinda didn't do that. read and all shall be explained.

Kenka: chins4tw: Sorry, I was just trying to edit the 1st chapter and messed it up a little.

And to all other reviewers, thanks very much. I'll be sure to publish again as soon as I can.

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**Chapter 2: The Tiring Existence Of Life**

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"Trust is the sound of a grave-dog's bark  
Trust is the sound of betrayal in the dark  
Trust is the sound of a soul's last breath  
Trust is the sound of death."

Wheel Of Time - Robert Jordan.

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In the outer-woods of Konoha, a black blur flashed through the tree-tops, soundless in his movements, not a single branch making a noise as he landed and departed from it. The wind blew slightly as he ran, dispersing his scent so that it would be impossible to track his exact location, although, Inuzuka would be able to follow his faded scent to a small degree.

Dropping to the ground in a silent crouch, a black clad boy looked all around as he barely made a move, straining his ears and nose to find any traces of an approaching enemy. He found no-one. Deciding he was in the clear, Naruto hefted the scroll off of his back and unfurled it.

Smiling to himself as he prepared to take something from Konoha as reparation for the years of torment, he couldn't help but be surprised by the sheer knowledge this scroll held. It was lucky then that he hadn't went to were Mizuki had told him to. Instead he had prudently planned for this ahead of time, allowing for a larger amount of time to learn more.

The location he had picked was about half an hour away from the location Mizuki had asked, and it had been perfect. It would take about an hour for Mizuki to actually reach the designated spot, after he had alerted the Hokage, of course. Furthermore, he would reach that area to not find Naruto there, and hence he would have to look for him like everyone else.

This was the tricky part, though, as he wanted Mizuki to find him first, and not some benevolent shinobi who felt like slaying the 'demon'. Naruto knew any other shinobi would kill him on the spot without getting his side of the story, which he didn't want to happen, whereas Mizuki would take his time to gloat. Which is what he needed as he could fight Mizuki, kill him, and by doing so would release enough chakra for the Hokage to find him himself with the legendary Crystal Ball Viewing Technique.

After the Hokage had located him he would recall all Shinobi and send Anbu to pick up him, Mizuki and the scroll. What he gained from that extra time it took for Mizuki to find him though, would be priceless in comparison to the risk he was taking, as he could die any day anyway. That extra one to two hours would allow for him to learn more techniques, better preparing him for the outside world and could be used as bargaining chips for his safe induction into another village.

Scrambling his thoughts and satisfactory pride and smugness in his accomplishments, he focused on his task at hand, these technique were al in here for a reason. Most things in here would be jutsu, but there would also be sealed items that had been classified as forbidden for one reason or another, there would be seals and there would be knowledge. Unlike what most thought, this scroll didn't just contain forbidden techniques that had been classified as dangerous for one reason or another, it contained all the knowledge of each raining Hokage; from their inauguration as Hokage until the day they died each Kage had written every single one of their own techniques within this scroll, making it a trove of vast knowledge and power.

Quickly reading through each technique and description, he tried to store away as much information as possible on each; he did this so that he could decided which one would be the most beneficial to him, he didn't want to pick up some random technique that would do him no good.

Twenty minutes later he had read a majority of the techniques, ranging from suicidal jutsu, to raging torrents of water and arcs of lightning created by the Nidaime, to complex illusions and creations of forests by the Shodaime, to seals and sealess jutsu of the Yondaime, to devastating fire jutsu of the Sandaime. All of these priceless and powerful pieces of knowledge, and yet two things made him glad that he had went through with this.

He looked across the long scroll, his eyes locking onto one word, one name: Uzumaki. It took all of his concentration to not scream out in rage when he saw the long list of Uzumaki sealing techniques, clan techniques. It didn't take him long to figure that out that Uzumaki was a clan name, especially seeing as every sealing technique within the scroll was labelled 'Uzumaki Clan Sealing Technique'.

Not only were there sealing techniques, but a whole myriad of techniques. He could definitely see some of these being extremely powerful, especially the water and wind based ones. He could see whirlpool shields that drained chakra from the attack and fed it to the user, wind dragons and water dragons, and so many more. But the techniques didn't end there, they just kept going.

Through his rage, though, it made him smile. He smiled for a simple reason, he had been betrayed by the last person he truly thought had loved him, had not lied to him, the Sandaime Hokage. Why did he smile when he found out he had been betrayed by the last person he trusted? Simple, he no longer felt he would be betraying the Old Man, the only reason that had made him feel bad about leaving Konoha. He no longer thought that, though, now that the Old man had betrayed him by not telling him about his own family. He could leave freely now, no regrets, just a clean break.

Then his eyes flicked to another name, this time a technique: Shadow Clone. Unlike it's weaker counterpart, the Clone, it didn't require the fine control and miniscule amount of chakra and wasn't an illusion. On the contrary, it required large reserves of chakra and very little control, and created a solid clone capable of dealing physical damage and using chakra. Perfect, for him.

Furthermore, it had a very unique ability: '_A characteristic that is unique to the Shadow Clone Technique is that any experience the clones gain during their existence is transferred to the user once they are dispersed. This makes the technique ideal for spying, since the user can simply send a clone to spy on a target, then have the clone disperse itself without returning to pass the information back to the user._

_It's also useful for training purposes, since the total amount of experience the user gains is multiplied by the total number of clones being used to train. For example, if a user creates one shadow clone and trains together with this clone for one hour, then dispels the clone, the user gains two hours of training in one hour by adding the hours of clone and the user together. _

_*Note: can be used to train in fighting styles, hand to hand combat, throwing techniques and any other weapon technique. This is due to muscle memory, that which we train with to help remember routines, kata and other motor tasks. Most would believe this to be a physical aspect as it involves muscle, but is really to do with memorising the use and movement of muscle motors, which is a function of memory and thus trainable with the Shadow Clone's memory retaining method._

This technique would be perfect for his repertoire, allowing for a large and versatile user of his massive reservoir of chakra. Not only that, but he could probably create twenty to thirty of these things at once with his chakra capacity, allowing him to get training down thirty times quicker! This would be perfect for when he left Konoha, as it would allow him to train much better even if he didn't have a Jounin-sensei.

He quickly remembered what it was, though: a forbidden technique. Quickly glancing at the down sides he realised why. If someone did not have enough chakra to split it in half, they would die from chakra exhaustion. Furthermore, due to the influx of memories he could also develop mental stress, accumulated from each of the clones used. For instance, instead of feeling tired due to one hour of training, that could be multiplied by thirty, then he could train for eight hours and feel thirty times more tired. So, it had a limit to how many he could train with; creating them was no problem.

Though, he figured he could use more in a fight due to them picking up less memories and stress, whereas if they were training they would develop more memories and mental stress. So, he could use as many as he could in a fight, just he couldn't train with too many.

Quickly reading through the instructions of creating a Shadow Clone, he found it an easy technique to do, in theory. He simply had to take exactly half of his chakra and mould it into a solid form, using the principles for Transformation would allow for him to create the image and size that made up his body, then he had to create a solid exterior by focusing some of the chakra to the outer perimeters of the clones body to reinforce it, also allowing the rest of the chakra to be safely contained, and lastly to use a small amount of Yang chakra to breath life into his creation. Simple, really.

Within ten minutes he had it down pat. What he didn't expect was to see roughly five-hundred copies of himself waiting patiently for orders, good little slaves that they were. Naruto smiled gleefully, though; this was beyond his wildest expectations, and the funny thing was that had only taken half of his chakra. Using his newly created clone he had it do the technique itself until it couldn't make anymore, each new clone doing the same.

Going by this showed him something straight away; in battle after he has created the first clone he should have that make more clones, allowing him to keep half his chakra instead of needlessly halving it again and again. Furthermore, he could create a little more than a thousand clones if he needed to, and right now he had over five hundred clones to copy as much as he could from the scroll of seals.

Bringing his hand to his forehead, Naruto chuckled. It started with a small shaking of his body, then his body was wracked with laughter as his chuckles turned to full blown laughter. He had come to take away a few techniques from Konoha as revenge, but now he would take them all. He could later sell it off to another village, it would gain him masses of trust from the selected village that he wished to ingratiate himself with. It might even lead to Konoha's downfall, should he choose someone like Kumo or Iwa.

This was all too perfect, for someone with a life with nothing but bad luck, he had just had more luck than any one person he had ever heard of. Truly, karma was a bitch, and today she was pissed with Konoha.

Coming down from his mirth, the blonde pulled out the sealing scroll that had once contained Itachi's useful techniques, all those years ago. Unsealing the parchment and ink he had brought with him to copy as many techniques as he could, he quickly created shadow clones of them, using the same principles as for the copies of him, just with more chakra within each than there was within his copies. He done this so that they wouldn't disappear anytime soon, allowing time to copy them to real paper that wouldn't disperse and leave him without the information.

The paper and ink was quickly distributed to each clone, the scroll was unfurled to it's full length to allow all clones to start copying. Whilst his clones were doing that, though, Naruto decided check something out.

Moving to the end of the scroll, Naruto bent down to start checking the items at the bottom. He had told his clones to copy all listed techniques within the scroll that weren't suicidal, but he hadn't told them to look at the sealed items. Which he was just about to do.

There was a reason why he wanted to do this personally, though. He still didn't quite trust the shadow clones learning and memory transference faculties, that or he might have made one or two of them wrong. If either of those were wrong then the clones could end up picking up an all powerful weapon that could kill with ease, but drained the user's life force constantly. So, he decided to set about it himself whilst the clones just copied the techniques word for word, something they couldn't get wrong. Hopefully.

He started to read the description of each item within the scroll, carefully taking note of their pros and cons. He would take note of any that had specific functions, one's that were in their due to the need of vary large chakra reserves (a problem he didn't have), and any he would be able to use after a load of training.

By the time he was finished he was quite surprised by the number of items with powers that Konoha held. Most young ninja heard the stories of Mizu's fabled Seven Swords, the Sage of Six Paths' tools, the Nidaime Hokage's sword of lightning, and a few others. So, most held these types of weapons up as legendary items that were almost impossible to obtain, but he was wrong. It seemed it was quite easy to get these items, and there were many of them. What was actually difficult was finding these items, but one's that didn't have some impossible requirement to wield or have some taxing cost for it's use. These were mostly all death traps.

That being said, he did find some things that he could use. This was a sword, it was called Kaiten Suru no Shinku Shi, the Whirling Crimson Death. It was sheathed in a dark-as-midnight, black sheath with a bluish silver design that depicted a set of whirlpools coming up the length of the case, from bottom to top, running parallel to a set of silver clouds. Whirlpools under a silver night sky.

The cases were beautiful enough to make him realise just how much it must have cost to actually make these, as only the finest of artist could make something so startlingly beautiful and haunting. But when he unsheathed the blade he had to double his opinion of the master craftsmen who put there souls into these pieces.

The handle was a dark crimson, as dark as the lifeblood it would take from it's enemies. The pommel and hilt were both as black as the sheath, going with it's theme yet again. The hilt was circular of design with a spiralling pattern that resembled a whirlpool, it had the added effect of having red flowing within the whirlpool as if someone had just bled into it as it spiralled away, twisting and stretching the bloody flow within the black whirlpool. Again, the beauty haunted him as the depiction seemed to say it would take blood away from any who apposed it.

The blade itself was about 18 inches long, about as long as his arm, and a little bit longer with the handle. The sword – a kodachi, he realised by it's measurement – curved all the way to the tip, but remained fairly straight. It was a black colour as it kept in theme, unlike most blades which were of a silver colour. Running down the cutting edge was a line of imprinted silver clouds, small in size so that they did not reach the middle of the blade.

All in all, he thought it was the most beautifully, haunting thing he had ever seen and couldn't think of a more beautiful thing for his enemies to see before they died.

Holding it by the sheath, he decided not to use it today as he had no training with a sword, so it would only hinder him in his up and coming battle. The fact that he could hold it, though, proved he was an Uzumaki.

The reason for this was in the very description of the blade: only those who were from the Uzumaki main house could hold the blade, because those who weren't were completely drained of their chakra until they were put into a comatose state. Seeing as he still had all his chakra and was currently walking around just proved that, so he went to get the sword sealed up.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi was having a horrible day. The worst he had had in many years, he might say. It had started out well enough, but things quickly got bad fast.

It had started off with the usual mountain of paperwork that he and his Shadow Clone's had to go through, then he had to sort out a bunch of domestic disputes between the various lords and ladies of Hi no Kuni that resided within Konoha, then he found out that Naruto had failed to pass again due his large chakra reserves, Danzo had then came to him demanding he be allowed to train the Jinchuuriki.

All in all he'd had a very long day, but eventually he had been able to go home and return to his bed. He had spent an hour reading an adventure novel by some ninja from Konoha, and it had been an enthralling read. After his reading he had proceeded to go to sleep, but Murphy's Law seemed to strike.

He had got dressed straight away when he felt the seals on his arm that indicated someone had stolen the Forbidden Scroll of Seals started to burn, it was imperative that the scroll was returned. He had found out from his surveillance seals that Naruto was the one to take it.

Of course, he knew that Naruto had been tricked. For starters no-one below the rank of Chunin even knew were the scroll resided, much less that it existed. That lead to the conclusion that someone of Chunin rank or above had told Naruto were it was. As for him taking it, the Professor knew that the young boy would be in emotional turmoil right now due to his failure, making him easy to manipulate. So, someone of Chunin rank or above had manipulated him into taking the scroll.

The question was, though, who would want to take the scroll? Or better yet, who would want Naruto to get caught with the scroll and killed because of it? He knew someone at the Academy had been supplying an unidentified enemy with information about Konoha, but he had yet to find out who the teacher and enemy were. It was most likely that said teacher had offered this as some sort of test for him to gain Genin status, playing on Naruto's biggest desire.

With all this processed within a minute he had sent out Anbu and all village Jounin to find the scroll with strict orders to bring Naruto back alive and well, and that any Chunin found searching for or with Naruto was to be brought straight back to the Hokage for treason. He didn't send any Chunin so it would be easy to find the perpetrator, as he would be the only Chunin out there who knew of the scroll and Naruto. Let the traitor be caught in his own trap.

Now, with a heavy heart and tired mind, Hiruzen Sarutobi waited for the return of his grandson, and secondly the scroll. He would be able to deal with the loss of the scroll as he wouldn't mind spending months hunting it down, but the loss of Naruto would hurt him too much, would be another failure that he wouldn't b able to atone for.

"Come home, Naruto. Please".

* * *

Naruto grunted as blocked a high kick with his forearm, then pushed the leg past him using it's own momentum. In the slight opening that made in Mizuki's guard as he was off balance, Naruto brought his leg out to meet the kneecap of the leg that was still on the ground.

He smirked in satisfaction as Mizuki's knee buckled and he had to role away to quickly avoid another set of attacks. Mizuki came back up, crouched on one knee as he glared at Naruto.

"I'll kill you, Demon bastard!" he growled. The fight was definitely not going as Mizuki had planned, in fact he was losing due to his own negligence.

Mizuki had come across Naruto as he pretended to be reading the scroll on his own, when in actual fact it was a shadow clone. Mizuki, though, hadn't known that and stabbed it in the back with a kunai.

But, when the clone had exploded into a cloud of smoke, Naruto had used it's cover to get into Mizuki's guard and batter it down as he threw quick, decisive strikes at his weak points. With a few strikes in on his knees, ribs and shoulder, Mizuki had been effectively weakened and wasn't able to move all that fast as he was in a world of pain. Now, with the last shot on his knee, Naruto would say it was fractured and had assured him the match.

"Can't come up with anything more original, Mizuki-teme? Or are you gonna start sprouting out some crap about me being Kyuubi; it won't work seeing as I already know the truth." He smiled viciously as he saw Mizuki drop his jaw in shock. "Now let's end this".

Quickly unsealing the sword from his scroll, Naruto ran at his former sensei with a Kunai in one hand, sword in the other.

His first strike came in as a downward slash that Mizuki blocked with a kunai, the next was with the sword as it came inside his guard with a quick thrust. His opponent showed why he was a Chunin though, as he barely knocked it aside with another kunai and attempted to role away again.

Naruto wasn't going to let that happen, though, as he knew that Mizuki was a long range specialist, especially with those ridiculous shuriken on his back. Quickly calling his shadow clones out of hiding, he had them attack Mizuki from all sides whilst he provided some long range support with kunai and shuriken.

He decided to not engage Mizuki in close quarters combat with his sword, like he had thought earlier on. But he had found a small flaw in his earlier plan. If he had sealed the sword away and made it magically appear later on, the Hokage would wonder what else Naruto had sealed away and would ask to see. He couldn't let that happen.

So, Naruto had decided to use it to make the finishing blow and later say to the Hokage that he had unsealed them due to the description which stated that only an Uzumaki could wield them. But Mizuki-teme had proven he at least deserved the rank of Chunin as even after the successful ambush on Naruto's part, a fractured kneecap and bruised shoulder, he could still fend Naruto off.

This lead to Naruto deciding to just spam cones at him and use the sword as the end game, christening his new partnership with it.

Naruto smiled as he heard an ear piercing screech of rage and pain; it was time to end this, time to end the tiring existence of this life.

* * *

"So, after finding out that the test was a fake and that Mizuki was a traitor I proceeded to fight him. As you can imagine, his outweighed my own and I was steadily beaten back. But, with the aid of these new swords and about five-hundred shadow clones, Mizuki was swiftly beaten. After this I came back here with the scroll and reported straight to you, Jiji".

Hiruzen sighed in relief as he sat back. From what Naruto had told him he could safely judge Naruto as innocent, especially seeing as he brought the scroll back himself and defeated a traitor. Furthermore, with Naruto already possessing the ability to use shadow clone Danzo might stop nagging him about training the bot. He was also very proud of Naruto for doing what he had done, except the actual theft, but that wasn't his fault.

"I must say, I am very proud of you, Naruto-kun. What you did tonight was spectacular." He started, then looked at Naruto with a warm smile.

"You evaded Konoha's elite Anbu guard when you got the scroll, showing your great aptitude for stealth. You then proceeded to leave with a high value item and not be caught, and even the Inuzuka were unable to track you, showing a great aptitude for infiltration, assassination and stealing.

After that you you showed good knowledge on tactical location, picking somewhere where the trees totally covered the ground, hiding everything in shadow, covering your location, and was also a great place to ambush as the shrubbery provided good cover for hidden assailants.

You learnt multi-shadow clone Jutsu within an hour, showing prodigious Ninjutsu skill that has not been seen since Itachi Uchiha, and chakra reserves that surpass my own.

You went on further to be able to realise that the scroll you had retrieved was far to valuable to be used in such a mundane test, showing key observational skills. With this information you used it to lay an ambush with well placed shadow clones and misdirection, all within the space of a few minutes, showing exemplary tactical skills, plan making, combat skills, Ninjutsu skills and levelheadedness".

"I was just doing what I was taught" Naruto chuckled as he waved his hands at the praise, clearly not used to it.

He wasn't willing to let it go, though; Naruto deserved his praise, as so little people took the time to ever talk to him, let alone complement him. "No, Naruto. You are every bit deserving of this praise. Could any other genin pull off what you did? And I'm pretty sure that you don't get taught that wind jutsu you used to get rid of your scent, the intricacies of infiltration and the planning you used to time it after I had left. In fact, none of those skills were taught to you in the academy, just the theory behind your choices. What you showed was the skill set I would expect of a Chunin, not a failed Genin." he stood suddenly and walked over to a set of wooden draws.

Quickly opening up the mission assignment draw, he drew out a black scroll and filled in the details. Five minutes later he handed to Naruto. "For returning an SSS-rank item to Konoha, ending a domestic threat to our national security, and killing a C-rank traitor, I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, award you the completion of an S-rank mission" he stated as he threw the scroll to Naruto.

Naruto seemed surprised as he caught it, not quite sure what to do or say. He watched as Naruto looked at him and frowned. "This should only be a B-rank for dealing with a traitor, and returning a stolen item" he said slowly, still trying to find a way out of it.

Hiruzen chuckled. "My boy, most S-ranks aren't the type of mission that you think they are. Most of the time it's just silencing a lord or lady without being caught in an enemy nation, infiltrating rogue organisations, or finding leaks in village security.

What you done today could have been classified as SS-rank if you were given the mission beforehand, instead of just completing it by happenstance. And if you still disagree, think about what would have happened should an enemy nation get ahold of that, a scroll which contains our most powerful weapons and techniques, it would lead to Konoha's downfall" he gave a moment of silence to let Naruto understand the depth of the situation, he had no doubt that Naruto understood perfectly but was just be humble.

"I" he started, unsure of himself. "I guess you're right" he said finally.

Looking at Naruto's almost dejected face made the Hokage laugh again. Any other Genin or even Chunin that got this sort of praise and mission completion would be bragging like a peacock boasting it's feathers, but here Naruto was getting a little angry at the praise, feeling he was undeserving.

"Oh Naruto-kun, why can't the rest of my Chunin and Genin force be as humble as you are?" he joked. "My life would be so much easier. Hugh..."he sighed as he finally stopped laughing. "Well, you'll get you mission equivalent pay directly to your bank account tomorrow.."

"Wait" Naruto interrupted, making the Hokage raise an eyebrow. He wouldn't refuse the pay, surely? "Could I ask for something instead of money, if that's alright with you?" he asked.

He took a moment to think about it, but not long. As long as his request was reasonable he grant it. It was all simple enough, really. "Yes, as long as it is within reason" he said with a nod of his head.

"Thanks, Jiji. I would like a nature affinity paper, a book on all nature transformation stages and a book on shape transformation, and, lastly, could I see the team selection sheets. Is that possible?"

_I feel like I could start laughing again at any point, _Hiruzen thought, _since when does a Genin even know those terms, let alone want to start practice them? _"May I ask, Naruto-kun? Why those? How did you even come by those terms?"

"Well, you know I have a massive store of chakra? And that it stopped me from having the required control to perform a simple clone? Well, after I found out my problem was Chakra control I decided to start looking for more advanced chakra exercises and mastered them – Tree Climbing, Water Walking, Chakra levitation –, but I was still unable to get the clone down. So, I looked into higher levels of chakra control and found that after Chakra Levitation it went into Shape and Nature Transformation, which was only accessible by Chunin."

"But how did you get that information?" he pressed. This level of information was not granted to Genin, let alone academy students.

Naruto seemed to hesitate, but decided to answer. "I transformed into the image of a Chunin I had seen and went into the Shinobi library. Sorry about doing that, I know it's illegal, but it's hard to get by when your teachers ignore you and try to repeatedly sabotage you" he said, sounding sincere.

Bringing his hands to his head, he sighed tiredly. "Once again, exemplary skills in infiltration to fool even the Chunin guarding that library, keen observational skills to know were to get your required materials, and excellent information gathering. Once again, you show great potential as an infiltration, information gathering and assassination specialist. Do not worry, though, I forgive you. Is should have realised that the Academy was doing it, as is my job".

He couldn't believe, or rather he didn't want to, that his own shinobi would disregard his own orders and purposefully sabotage someone, even for a Jinchuuriki. After this he was going to have to fire everyone at the Academy and restructure it, lessons and teachers, because if someone of Naruto's skill couldn't pass just because of a clone, how many great shinobi had been lost to this system. That scared him the most, how much potential had he wasted.

"Yes" he answered "you may have what you asked for. Inu" he called and was instantly met by a masked Anbu "go fetch those things Naruto-kun asked for, would you."

"Thanks, Jiji" Naruto said as Inu disappeared.

"Think nothing of it, it is your payment, Naruto-kun. Although, let me warn you why it is restricted to Chunin or clan children. It requires a good understanding of how to mould chakra in different ways and to different parts of the body, which you have learned through your training already.

That is not all though, because when using Nature transformation, one wrong move with it and you van die. Whether through burns from fire, losing a limb to wind, drowning yourself with water, frying your insides with lightning, or crushing yourself with earth, the elements will kill you with great ease should you make any mistake.

So, take great care with every step, check, double check and triple check what you have learned before practising, and then practise that one exercise until you have mastered it before moving on, Ok?" he stressed greatly.

"You may not no this, but one third of the Shinobi we lose a year is to the things your about to practise, so take great care".

What he said was true. Every year he lost nearly three-hundred Chunin or above to mistakes made during Ninjutsu training, and all suffered horrible deaths from it. He really didn't want that to happen to Naruto for many reasons, but the foremost being that he was his grandson.

Naruto nodded his head seriously. "I understand, Jiji".

Hiruzen sighed in relief, at least he could trust Naruto to be careful.

"I'll make my shadow clones do this stuff for me, so I'll never be in danger".

_There is that aswell_, he thought as he looked at Naruto. _How could I have forgot the Shadow clones learning ability, Naruto is going to progress at an outstanding rate now._

"Yes, well, there is that option aswell. Now, here's the other thing you asked for" he agreed as he handed over the team selection sheets. "Normally, you wouldn't know this until team placement day, but I can make an exception".

He didn't really know why Naruto wanted to know, but he knew that he had his reasons seeing as how he had asked. Right now he would just wait and see what Naruto had to say. He didn't have to wait long.

"Who decided the teams, Jiji?" he asked as he looked up from the sheet.

He raised an eyebrow. "The sensei request the team they want and I just okay it, why?" it seemed that he had a problem with the teams, he just hoped it wasn't something as small as him disliking Sakura and Sasuke, he thought better of Naruto than to be petty.

"Absolutely. Whoever Kurenai is, she's a greedy idealist in my opinion." he spat.

The Hokage frowned, that wasn't what he expected at all, it wasn't even his team. "You might want to explain that one, Naruto-kun, she has asked for a team that has a lot of potential as a tracker team" he replied, clearly wanting to know what this was about.

"Well, for starters why are you training them as a 'tracker team'? In my opinion all three should be split up among teams 7, 8 and 10 as they are the only teams that will pass. I say this because each team needs someone who can detect enemies, it could save lives. Whereas, if they're all kept on one team the other two may suffer from ambushes and lose a team member.

Furthermore, if they are all together they will grow complacent. They'll always think 'Oh, it doesn't matter what I do, the others are here to help find any potential threats, so I don't need to do anything'. Gradually they will all think that and start to let their skills diminish, and it will one day cost them. Whereas, if they are not together, they will constantly be on the alert, constantly better their skills because they know their team relies on them.

And lastly, where is the long range fighter? Yes, Hinata is a strong Taijutsu user, but she would be able to handle someone who kept her at a distance. Shino's bugs are easy to keep at a distance with a simple fire, water or wind Jutsu, so he's only effective at traps. And lastly there is Kiba, a short to mid-range fighter who could only use Gatsuga a few times before he starts to suffer from chakra exhaustion. Whereas, put Sasuke, Shikamaru or Ino on their team, preferably Ino, and you problem is sorted.

Kurenai focuses too much on the potential of the team as trackers, and nothing else. I also fail to see what she can teach a team of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Nin-Taijutsu specialists. From her stat book she is mediocre at Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, but has great skill in Genjutsu, which none of her team are suited for. It's a miss-match team" he laid the papers back down.

"And don't get me started on the others. Team 10 is preposterous. The recreation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, good in theory, but crap in reality. I know your son's aiming for a repeat of their parents because they'll already have a large list of team Jutsu they can use thanks to the previous generation, but that's it's weakness. Everyone, especially the other nations, have memorised that teams techniques, their predictability will get them killed off the bat.

They would be better suited joining different teams and learning how to actually work with others and create new tactics, rather than mooching off of their parents work. They all have the potential, but they'll never reach it if they don't have to do anything for it.

And then there is team 7. Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake. That is the real team. If they were on a team we both know that Hatake would be asked by the council to focus on Uchiha, they all love their magazine Uchiha and would love it even more if he was as good at Ninjutsu as the fabled Copy Ninja. Me and Sakura would be ignored.

Furthermore, Sasuke hasn't even attained the Sharingan. So, Hatake shouldn't be his sensei until he has unlocked it, and when he has he should take Sasuke on as a personnel apprentice so that others wont get ignored. The team sensei should be filled with a capable and well rounded Jounin who wont play favourite in the meantime, as Hatake would because he could pass all his techniques on to him, especially the fabled Chidori.

And lastly, Sakura, like Ino, should not be placed on Sasuke's team. She would neglect her on training, instead choosing to focus on Sasuke and beg him for a date. It would be better if she was actually ordered to stay away from him for several months, so that she could focus on becoming more of a shinobi."

_One minute. It took him less than a minute to pick apart three teams that seemed to have a large potential, greater than any from the last generation. I may have not praised him enough earlier, he's a genius. _Hiruzen had absolutely no idea what to even reply to that, it was a splendid evaluation that even his Jounin didn't see.

He cleared his throat. "And would you be able to think of a better team placement, by any chance" he asked, trying not to sound as he was. It didn't work.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the question before picking up the sheet again. "Just for teams 7, 8 and 10, or the ones that will fail aswell?" he asked.

"Just the three ones you think will pass".

It took Naruto another minute to put the sheet down, obviously finishing his decision. "Done."

Hiruzen nodded his head for Naruto to carry on, a lot depended on his next answer, he could tell even the Anbu were paying a lot of attention to the situation now, as even they were intrigued.

"Kurenai Yuhi should have Hinata Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara and Sakura Haruno. The reasons are simple for each person:

Hinata Hyuga: Hinata has told me from past conversations that she is regularly tutored by Kurenai Yuhi by orders of her father, meaning she will already be in her comfort zone with her and wont feel like backing down all the time due to her poor self confidence.

Furthermore, she will be the only person who can take trained enemies on in hand to hand combat, meaning she will usually be relied on to hold the enemy off for the others to trap, incapacitate or kill them. This will gradually brake her out of her habit to feel weak and useless as she is constantly relied on to do things the others can't, building her confidence up.

And lastly, neither Sakura nor Shikamaru have personalities that will overbear on her, making her clam up like usual. Sakura is only violent with males, so will not shout at Hinata. Shikamaru is too lazy to do anything. And Kurenai is like a mother to the girl. All of this allows her to be herself, whereas people like Kiba would be too loud and would make her clam up.

Shikamaru Nara: Shikamaru will work in the same sort of way that he would within the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. He will create plans, like all Nara, use Hinata as a diversion similar to Choji, and trap his opponents. He will be able to use his dad's old tactics, but will have to think for himself on how to apply them with this new team.

Furthermore, it is known that all Nara are lazy, Shikamaru especially so. But, it is also known that they can't stand arguing women and will do anything to get them off their case. So, knowing this, I have placed him on a team with all women. Sakura especially will get Shikamaru off of his arse, and start doing things properly. Also, he will have no sympathisers as it is an all female team, and all women stick together. He will be forced to reach his full potential or listen to nagging women, he will choose option A, I presume.

Lastly, Sakura Haruno: Sakura is a poor excuse for shinobi, plain and simple. She sticks out like a saw thumb with that red dress and pink hair. She's as silent an Akamichi singing opera. Her Taijutsu is perfectly copied and memorised from the Academy, but she has no strength to back it up due to some diet or another. She has decent speed, but makes as much noise as a flat footed rhino when she does. Her jutsu are perfect and she wastes absolutely no chakra, perfect chakra control, but that is due to her non existent reserves, I bet new born babies have larger pools than her. She won't listen to anyone unless they're Sasuke.

I plan to fix that with this team. When she sees Hinata's speed, reflex, chakra control, capacity, Taijutsu, stealth and other abilities, Sakura will start to see that she is lacking. Although, this will be ignored as Sakura will see Hinata's lack of confidence as weakness and will automatically claim to be better due to her exam results. Thus, Hinata will not make her improve on her own.

But when you add Kurenai to the mix, the epitome of Kunoichi, Sakura will see her failings again. But, this time, she will not see any weakness. She will see Kurenai as an idol, something she wishes to become. Especially after Sakura sees her 'sex appeal', something she tries to flaunt to Sasuke all the time. Under Kurenai she will snap out of her fan girl faze and step into the shoes of a proper shinobi.

Lastly, she will also be able to learn a great deal from her sensei as she has near perfect chakra control, making her a potential Genjutsu master, much like Kurenai herself. Using her Genjutsu will make for the perfect support among this team, as Hinata will keep opponents occupied, she will put them under a Genjutsu and Shikamaru can then easily capture with his shadow.

Kurenai Yuhi will no longer be a poor choice for sensei, as she will help all her students in various ways, and gain a protégé in Sakura. This will also be good for Konoha as we have very little Genjutsu users. Hinata, Sakura and Shikamaru will continue to fix each others faults, and grow stronger therefore.

Now that that team is done, let's move on to the new team under Kakashi Hatake, if we must keep him, Kakashi Hatake, Shino Aburame, Sasuke Uchiha and Choji Akamichi:

Sasuke Uchiha: Sasuke will be a very good student for Kakashi, as both rely on the same style of fighting. Both focus on Ninjutsu but with a strong grounding in Taijutsu should they need it. Essentially, Sasuke will be Kakashi's protégé.

Also, seeing as neither of his team-mates are annoying and loud or like to speak up such as Ino and Sakura, Sasuke will have to be the leader and take charge of situations, forcing him to communicate with his team-mates. This will eventually lead to the point were he is more comfortable speaking around each other, and when I can stop adding new meaning to the sound 'hn'. I think it has 62, at the moment...

He would really be acting as the all ranges support, but mainly filling the teams gap as long range specialist.

Next, we have Choji Akamichi: Now, Choji has very little weaknesses, and just as few strengths. He's a good all rounder and team player, but he's more of a follower than a leader, just like all Akamichi he's a point at the target and let him mow them down.

He will mainly be playing close range specialist, allowing time for Shino to suck his enemies chakra dry whilst Sasuke tries burning them to a crisp with that fire jutsu he knows, smug bastard.

Kakashi will be good for Choji though, as he is very slow, and I've heard Kakashi is an extremely fast shinobi.

Lastly, there is Shino Aburame: with all Aburame, he is very well rounded but relies mainly on his Kikaichu. Kakashi will be good here as he will be able to teach him some basic elemental techniques to cover his weakness, as Kikaichu are weak against relatively all Ninjutsu.

Shino will also be very good for supplying a logical basis for the team, and also show his very keen tactical mind. With these two together he will be the planner and thinker of the team, but will also act as the person that will calm Sasuke's quick temper with his cold logic. A perfect match.

There is also the fact that he doesn't like to get up close and personal, thinking that his logic and Kikaichu will be enough. Kakashi will be good for this again, as he is known for being able to mix his Taijutsu and Ninjutsu and his excellent mind to catch his enemies in predicaments they are unable to get out of.

All of this team, though, is reliant on the fact of whether or not Kakashi will neglect the others. If he splits his time equally, the team should grow to be very strong, Sasuke and Shino in particular, and will be very well rounded, making it extremely hard for them to be beaten as they have next to no weaknesses.

And, finally, that leaves the last team, my team. Under Asuma Sarutobi is Naruto Uzumaki, Ino Yamanaka and Kiba Inuzuka.

Kiba Inuzuka: Kiba is like most Inuzuka and won't change in that regard. He is loud, arrogant, has a large ego and boasts as if his life depends on it. But he has reason to boast. He is the second fastest Genin graduate by far, he is the second best Taijutsu practitioner, his unique Nin-Taijutsu that his clan uses only boosts his speed, strength and overall Taijutsu. He makes the perfect Mid to short-ranger.

His faults, though, will be quickly discouraged by Ino. Seeing as Kiba is used to, by pack terms, being dominated by strong female characters, his mother and sister, he will quickly fall into line behind Ino. As such, he will be less likely to charge in recklessly. Furthermore, your son will add to that by mellowing Kiba out, as he is allegedly a very chilled and clam person.

Lastly, he will be helped quite avidly by Asuma, as he is one of Konoha's best Nin-Taijutsu users, if not, the best. He could show Kiba how and when to strike, how to use both his appendages at the same time to maximum effect, and will only continue to help his growth physically as Asuma is the second most physical Jounin after Maito Gai.

Next is Ino Yamanaka: I believe she is very talented at the moment. But, she is very like Sakura in terms of her physical development due to dieting, and mentally due to her fan-girlish tendencies.

But unlike Sakura, her father has mostly sorted that problem out in terms of her stealth, throwing skills, and from what I hear, skills in herbs, poisonous and medical. For this reason, I believe she will work best with the group as support, using poisoned weapons, her Yamanaka techniques and the possibility of her being a medic-nin due to her great chakra control and good reserves.

Asuma should be able to help her out of her infatuation with Sasuke now that she no longer sees him, and also make great leaps in her physical development. He should be able to give her a suitable Taijutsu foundation, and be able to increase her speed and strength greatly with heavy training and a balanced diet.

And finally, me, Naruto Uzumaki: I focus on close range combat, but would also like to be skilled in Ninjutsu and Chakra Flow with weapons, much like Asuma. I am the best of the Genin in terms of speed, Taijutsu, tied with Sasuke Uchiha in Ninjutsu now, poor at Genjutsu, most tactically skilled other than Shikamaru, stealthiest and best at Academics, as proved with the way I got a hundred percent on my tests.

I would be able to lead Kiba in the right direction and show him to use his brain more, rather than his voice. I will be a good distraction from Sasuke for Ino in the fact that I'll make myself a target for her to surpass, and will be able to further her Taijutsu skill by constant sparring with my shadow clones. I reckon I could make a good leader for them both out in the field, aswell, as neither of them have the capabilities to lead or plan.

With Asuma I think I could proficiently learn to use my sword with chakra flow under his guidance, further my Taijutsu and vastly increase my Ninjutsu. These skills with Asuma's help and my large chakra reserves could make me a Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu powerhouse.

This team, much like Kurenai's, will rely mainly on in team and sensei comradeship. It will require us all to work together and play of each other, but with each others personality it should be rather easy."

The room fell silent straight away, the silence almost deafening as Naruto stopped. Hiruzen could not find it in himself to speak. Here he sat, in-front of a newly minted Genin, and he just listen to him single-handedly pull apart the most promising generation in years, and then reconstruct one much better within five minutes. Teams that Jounin across Konoha looked at and saw the raw potential, replaced with one much better that only a Genin saw. Never in all his years, had Hiruzen something so startling.

"Naruto" Hiruzen started, his voice sounding dry from lack of use. "could you wait outside, please. I will only be a minute."

Naruto nodded. "Very well, Jiji" he said as he left, shutting the door behind him.

The room was silent again, until Hiruzen spook. "Anbu" his three guards instantly appeared in-front of him without a sound. "Tell me what you think".

"Can he join Anbu" Yugao asked instantly, her purple hair falling down behind her cat mask.

Hiruzen chuckled. "That was not what I asked, and you know that recruitment within Anbu is your job, so if you want you can, but just wait for a few months so that he can settle in with his team. Now, answer my question." he replied.

This time Tenzo, the only Mokuton user in the world and student of Kakashi Hatake, stepped forward. "Amazing. He shows great skill in espionage, these being: stealth, infiltration, evasion, spying, information gathering and even the possibility of Assassination. With all these he shows great potential as a spy master, infiltration master, information gathering master, and Assassination master.

Furthermore, he shows key knowledge of basic tactics. When building the teams he took into consideration: the enemies knowledge on the situation and turned it against them, showed the understanding of tactical positioning and ambushing in his ambush of Mizuki, the location was dark due to foliage and and lots of shrubbery to hide ninja behind, is able to put various pieces of information together quickly as shown by his team building, and is logical and clam, never letting his personal feelings get in the way of his decisions.

He went on to show very good leadership qualities: he structured the teams around not only their physical and rumoured capabilities and their clan Jutsu, but also by their personal and psychological thought processes, using their emotions as tools as much as their Jutsu would be. Not only did he use their strengths, but he also correctly stated their weakness and how to fix them, even among Jounin such as Kakashi Hatake and Kurenai Yuhi, some of our elite ninja picked apart all the same. He showed that he took the time to look up all of his possible sensei and team-mates so that he would already know all weaknesses and strengths beforehand, showing the temperament of a leader who needs to know every aspect of his team.

Lastly, with his fighting capabilities he showed a great deal aswell, showing he is not only limited to cognitive abilities: He showed his massive reservoir of Chakra with his Shadow clones, excellent control for a Jinchuuriki or good for a normal person, he showed the willing to learn more in his free time and not just limiting it to the allotted time by the Academy, his records show excellent speed and strength, and now he is even choosing a specialisation in Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu as a close range expert.

All in all , sir, I believe Genin isn't his rank. I say he is a solid Chunin, by any and all tests." Tenzo finished by standing back inline with the other two Anbu.

_I can't find any fault in Tenzo's grading, he is most certainly a Chunin in all but name, but how do I make him Chunin without the council throwing a tantrum? _He could just make Naruto Chunin, but the council would demand that he revoke for weeks on end, he wouldn't, but it would be annoying as hell. He could try to do it in secret, but the council would still find out.

"Sir" Genma asked as he stood forward, his hawk mask gleaming in the light. "Why not use the Chunin Probation system set up during the Second Shinobi War? That should stop the council from getting on your back." he moved back in line with the others as he finished.

"Sometimes I hate it when you know what I'm thinking" Hiruzen remarked dryly, but then grinned widely "but it's times like these I feel like I could kiss you".

"Please don't, sir. I'm sure Yugao wouldn't mind thou-" Genma tried not to double over as Yugao removed her elbow from his stomach, as difficult as that was.

Chuckling at the antics of his personal Anbu guard, squad zero, Hiruzen waved them away as they returned to their hiding. He then got up and walked to the door to let Naruto back in.

"Come back in" he said as he walked back to his seat. Naruto followed shortly behind.

"Naruto, due to your astounding potential and excellent skills shown today, I am enacting something called Chunin Probation and changing the teams to what you have suggested. Now what this means is that I'm making you a Chunin, but you are on probation. Furthermore, unlike most Chunin, you will be staying with you Jounin-sensei until he says that you have enough experience to start working with others. This hasn't really been used since war time, as it was used to get more Chunin out in the field but with the protection of a Jounin.

He will judge you on each and every mission, and should he find you lacking you will lose your rank and be demoted back to Genin. So, in other words, your a Chunin with a Jounin-sensei and now the council can't shout in my ear all day long as they will expect you to fail. Understand?" Hiruzen asked.

He didn't really need to ask, he knew that Naruto understood perfectly. He knew that Naruto had already found out about the Kyuubi and had stopped pussy-footing around the situation a year ago, and now he knew that Naruto understood how the council treated every matter to do with him. Naruto seemed far too intelligent for his own good at times, but at others it was a blessing. Especially now, as he knew he wouldn't have to be the one to break that news to him, or rather he didn't have to in the past.

Naruto would just take this as he always took everything, he would nod his head, say he understood, deny the invitation to a meal and go let off steam somewhere else.

He watched as Naruto nodded his head in understanding. "I understand, Jiji. Is that all?" he asked.

"No. Would you like to go get a meal tomorrow?" he asked, once again already knowing the answer.

"No, thank you for the invite though, Jiji. See ya later, Jiji" Naruto stood up to leave, but stopped when he caught the headband and green Chunin flak vest.

He instantly put the headband around his forehead, but did not put the vest on. Instead, he seemed to be looking at it in disdain.

"Jiji, can I have one of the thin grey ones. These green ones are too thick and heavy, they impede my movements and speed, which isn't good seeing how I focus on flexibility and speed in my Taijutsu style" he asked.

Hiruzen chuckled to himself again, Naruto always had something to say, some logical remark or some way of bettering himself. Most would have smiled like a fool at receiving the standard flak vest and went home, not realising they could have had one more designed to stealth and manoeuvrability, but not Naruto.

He quickly unsealed one that he kept in his desk and threw it to Naruto, who caught it and threw the other back which was promptly sealed away.

This new flak was like the Anbu standard flak vest. It was dark grey and sleeveless, very thin and flexible with small metal planes on the inside to deflect whatever damage it could, it also didn't have the neck guard which annoyed so many ninja.

"Thanks, Jiji. See ya" and with that he was already out the door.

For a few minutes Hiruzen sat in silence, letting the events of tonight just roll over him. He realised that Naruto new what he was stealing tonight and that Mizuki was a traitor, but he still took the scroll. He knew why, though. It was because Naruto didn't think that he, the Hokage, would trust him over a Chunin-sensei.

It had hurt when he realised that, but he also saw the logic in Naruto's plan. Instead of telling him about Mizuki and having him launch an investigation into him, where Mizuki would instantly clam up and destroy any evidence, in which case the villagers would all join his side to spite Naruto, he decided to catch Mizuki red handed and learn a technique that would allow him to pass the exam all in one go. Genius, really, the way he manipulated an unfavourable situation into one were he gained a new technique, weapon and promotion. All the more reason he deserved to be a Chunin, aswell.

That's another thing that bothered him though, he remembered that sword, or rather, swords; they were Kushina's before she died. He had them sealed straight away as he knew that anyone who wasn't a main house Uzumaki would be killed by the swords, and had added that in their description. This meant that Naruto now knew about his clan, and that he was most likely it's heir.

So many problems he now had to face: the council, Danzo's schemes, Naruto's cunningness, Orochimaru's activities aswell as Akatsuki's, and the rumours from Jiraiya's spies of Suna preparing for war.

The last was the worst, because if Suna went to war it could very well start the Fourth Great Shinobi War. That was something he definitely didn't want to see, he had already been in three of the wretched things already. Oh, how he wished he could just retire and pawn the job off to someone else. But again, he couldn't. His two students would lead Konoha to ruin, especially Jiraiya.

"Hokage-sama, I brought the items you requested." Inu said as he appeared. "It appears I'm late, again".

Hiruzen sighed as he heard the rest of his Anbu laugh at Kakashi's tardiness. "Some people will never learn. Just leave it here, I'll take it to Naruto in the morning" he replied tiredly.

"Very well, Hokage-sama" Kakashi said as he dropped them all onto the desk.

The Hokage watched as his guard returned to duty. What would he do tomorrow? What would he tell Naruto about his clan? Most importantly, what would he do when the chakra affinity paper showed Naruto he had a Kekkei Genkai?

Hiruzen was tired, very tired. He had started to feel this tiredness the night his successor had died along with his wife, and Hiruzen's own wife. He had had to take up his office again, Danzo had plotted again, the council had caused trouble again, and Naruto continued to get older and wiser, causing trouble for his weary mind again and again.

Looking at the calendar he realised tomorrow marked the three year mark since his eldest son's and daughter-in-law's death, it would be a sad day for him, Asuma and Konohamaru. Asuma would most likely pick tomorrow to start off another argument over nothing, why could he not just see things the same way as his father?

He realised then just how tired he was, oh, so very tired. Tired with life, with the day to day mundane exist he now called life. But, he would get up in the morning and carry on to do his duty for the village he loved. Oh, how wished for a rest, just to give in to the subtle darkness of his eternal sleep, to end this, the tiring existence of life.

"Duty is heavier than a mountain, death is lighter than a feather".

* * *

Here you are, chapter 2.

I am personally not sure about this chapter, I think it was okay, but not great. I believe I was probably overly descriptive, but it's kind of hard to fix that.

The scroll was just the most logical way of doing it I could think of. He wouldn't be able to make a shadow clone of it because to make a clone you must know every detail of the thing your cloning, which would make cloning it pointless if he had already memorized it.

The battle with Mizuki was short and sweet, I didn't really see the need to add an all out epic brawl here, just the ambush going according to plan.

I purposefully wrote the second part from Hiruzen's point of view to show you how Naruto's actions and motives came across, they may not be right, but that's what some people could draw from them.

As for the reason behind him wanting the stuff on Affinities, and Nature and Shape Transformation, you'll find out in the next chapter. The same goes with why he asked for the team sheets.

The Chunin Probation thing. Well, I kind of did all this and then looked back and thought ' he shows all the possible traits I could think of for Chunin, and he shows them solidly, so why not?'. I thought if that didn't show he was ready for a field promotion, I don't know what is (disregarding the fact he was made a Genin that way, that was more due to the Academy's incompetence).

Kekkei Genkai? read and see, people.

Naruto's clan wasn't mentioned due to Naruto wanting the Old Man to prove himself by telling Naruto about it, but the Old man didn't realize and may have blown his trust in Naruto.

And Lastly **"Duty is heavier than a mountain, death is lighter than a feather". **Who can guess where I got that from? It was said by a legend and one of my all time favorite characters.

See ya next time.


	3. The Tear That Fell That Day

"Reflecting on my life at the end of the week

A tear leaves my eye and caresses my cheek

My ego wants to force a smile, but my soul doesn't feel the need

This little sadness doesn't taste bitter; it is sweet"

* * *

Asuma Sarutobi took a long drag on his cigarette before exhaling, a cloud of smoke coming from his lips.

The woman sat across from him coughed and waved the smoke out of her face. "Goddamn it, Asuma! Stop chain smoking, or I swear I'll castrate you" she growled angrily.

"Maa, Maa, Kurenai. You shouldn't be too harsh on him. After all, it is his copping mechanism" A masked man chided from behind his book.

"I don't think that matters, Kakashi. Especially when my lungs can't cope with his 'copping mechanism'" she growled out again, seemingly more irritated by the masked man than the smoke.

Kakashi lowered his book slightly and looked Kurenai in the eye, her red orbs glowering back at him. "They worked perfectly fine last night when you used them to scream Asuma's name to the high heavens." he replied drolly.

Asuma chocked on his fag, Kurenai just looked like a tomato, her face matching the red of her eyes. "We" he coughed, not yet clearing his lungs, "didn't have sex, Kakashi."

"I never mentioned anything of the kind. Maybe you have a guilty conscience? Care to share a few details with an old friend?" he asked, the small book seemingly disappeared as he leaned over the table in apt interest.

Kurenai finally recovered, though. Smacking him upside the head, she glowered at him. "Mark my words: You tell anyone and I will castrate you! Do you under-"

A masked Anbu appeared, interrupting the conversation. "The Hokage would like to meet you at his office in one hour" he supplied before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Frowning, Asuma rubbed his beard. "I wonder what he wants?" he asked what they were all thinking.

* * *

"Urg... stupid alarm!" Naruto groaned as he rolled out of bed. His hand deftly flicked the off button without him even looking in it's direction.

Rubbing the hazy sight from his eyes, Naruto stood with a yawn. He had returned home at about three in the morning last night, and spent another hour transferring all the techniques from Shadow cloned paper to real paper so that it would not disappear. Afterwards he had managed to get to sleep easily enough, but only for three hours, it seemed.

"Damned training regimen, what idiot decided to get up at five?" he moaned as he walked towards the shower. He realised, through his tiredness, that a stray part of his mind answered "you did", but he promptly ignored it.

After a cold shower courtesy of the vindictive landlord, Naruto went through his usual routine. Firstly he had his breakfast and fruit smoothie, then he done some light stretches to loosen his body incase of someone attacking him, and finally he moved on to getting dressed. He made sure to put his training weights back on under his sleeves and trousers, and added some chakra to them to increase their weight.

The thing that had been most beneficial to his training was those weights, after years of use they had greatly increased his speed and strength. The weights were mainly there to increase his speed, as his entire Taijutsu style relied on quick, precise strikes instead of slow moving hay-makers. Everything he had done for years was like this, meant to optimise his capabilities in or out of battle.

He walked over to a loose floor panel and opened it up. Within this little alcove was his wallet, Gama-chan, a small little green frog. He took the frog out and put it aside, afterwards he lifted up the second panel to reveal Itachi's sealing scroll. He took that out, unsealed the scrolls within and picked the ones he wanted.

His keen eyes fell onto one document, though – not a scroll. It was the only thing he had stolen that wasn't part of the Forbidden Scroll, or rather he had copied the original. It was the answer to a question he had wanted answered for a long while, and something he would kill to find out. It was the focal point of which his world changed, and his saviour was born.

Now was not the time for those answers, though. Now, it was time for preparation of his impeding departure from Konoha. He would find out another truth to another lie at a later time; whether he opened it tonight, tomorrow or next year, he didn't know, he just knew he now had the answer with him. It was enough.

It was quickly stowed away, the remaining scrolls were quickly resealed and the original scroll stored away again, the second panel covering it up, Gama-chan on top, and then the original floorboard put back in place.

Most people would see that as a little cubby-hole for his money so that thieves couldn't get his money when they broke-in, which was a regular occurrence for him. In reality it was the smokescreen for the jutsu he had just stolen from the forbidden scroll. Most shinobi would just see his wallet and call it shinobi paranoia, and not bother to check underneath the underneath. It was basic misdirection.

Walking over to the table he placed the scrolls down and sat down himself, preparing to read them. The first was Kage Bunshin Daibakuha, Shadow Clone Explosion. The technique required you to create a shadow clone, but this time you needed to add two elements to it: Fire and Wind.

The process this time was the same as creating the shadow clone, but instead of letting all the loose chakra within the clone just float around, you store it within a 'container' within the clone. This canister holds all the chakra that wasn't used for the creation of the body, and acts as the energy for the explosion. Next of all you need to create two other containers besides the chakra one, these will hold small amounts of Fire Nature Chakra and the other hold Wind Nature chakra. When you want the clone to go boom, you simply mix all three containers.

When all three containers meet, the reaction is similar to that of a chemical reaction. First, the extremely hot flame and the pure chakra meet, were the magic happens. Due to pure chakra having so much energy, the flame simply doesn't have enough room or time to grow. The flame will expand rapidly within the clone until it reaches the 'walls' of the clones body, the flame will continue to build up and grow in pressure until, finally, the wind and fire meet, instantly fuelling the fire and intensifying the flame greatly. Soon, the clone's body can no longer contain it and lets it all out in one big piece of explosive art all over the enemies.

Naruto chuckled ruefully at the idea of blowing people to pieces in a glorious mess of flames, idly noting he may have just developed pyromania. This also seemed very easy, especially since drawing out Wind Chakra came so naturally to him he thought he had a Wind affinity. But, when he thought about it, that would make Fire his opposing element and hardest to draw upon. This might take a little while.

He was about to send some clones off to experiment with it, but he suddenly heard a knock at the door. Stowing the scroll for the glorious jutsu he would come to love away in a coffee jar, he went to answer the door.

"Ah, Naruto-kun. You are in, it seems." Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, greeted as he stepped though the doorway. The sun shone in through the door way, glancing out over the Hokage's shoulder, like spearing lances aiming at him; a spotlight held over his head as he was questioned for the truth, almost.

Instantly, Naruto was prepared to run. What possible reason could the Hokage have for visiting him the morning after his crime? He might have been caught and the old man was here to take him in and... No, he was just over thinking it. The old man visited regularly, and why not today?

"Old Man. What are you doing here?" he asked nervously as he let the elderly man in. Shutting the door Naruto ushered him over to the table and to take a seat.

He noticed the old Kage take a look around the room like always, he noted anything new, old or damaged. Everything would have looked the same as last time though, with very little changes.

His front door opened up to a living-room painted in light colours to maximise the brightness of the room. There was a sofa in the middle of the room, a coffee table in front of that and a television a few feet in-front of that. Off to the sides were some bookshelves covered in a plethora of books that ranged on any and all subjects.

Conjoining to his basic living-room was his kitchen, full with the basic cupboards and kitchen sides, an oven, a toaster, kettle and other small, various kitchen utensils. It was all cheap and basic; he didn't like to waist money, and the thieves/assassins/vandals liked to destroy anything of worth.

After making sure that Naruto appeared to have at least the basic requirements and hadn't been robbed lately, the Hokage placed a few items on the table, making Naruto realise why he was here. "You forgot these yesterday, Naruto-kun. I thought it would be best to bring them to you" he said with a grand-fatherly chuckle.

_Good, he's just here to drop these things off. Best not to let my guard down, though, _Naruto thought calculatingly. He wouldn't allow himself to drop his guard and get caught now, when he was so close to his dream... so close to freedom.

His attention switched to the book on elemental manipulation for all elements. This book with specific guides on each element was correlated with Konoha's knowledge on every aspect on how to control each element, and could only be bought from one sanctioned shop that was restricted to Jounin level only. Furthermore, this book cost a small fortune, enough to by a mansion at the least. He was lucky the pay he would have received was going to be S-rank.

Smiling, he realised he had found his solution to his exploding clone problem, he could just have his clones practise basic fire manipulation. This was very good indeed as he could also use this to master his elements when he escaped Konoha, because all knowledge like elemental manipulation was restricted to the hidden villages and he wasn't likely to stumble across it in his travels. Wonderful.

"Here's the chakra paper. I suppose you already know how to use it?".

"Yes" Naruto replied curtly as he accepted the small piece of paper.

Examining the piece of paper, Naruto observed that it looked like an absolutely normal piece of paper used in everyday households. He quickly dismissed that as soon as it touched his skin. The moment he made contact with it, the chakra within him seemed to come alive, brimming at the edges of his skin as though it was drawn to the paper. He relented to it's demand, letting his life energy flow into it.

What happened next was both surprising and predictable. Firstly, the paper crumpled, surprising Naruto. That wasn't the affinity he thought he had. Then it split into two pieces showing his nature affinity as wind, predictable. Then, the pieces both burned to ash; he also had a fire affinity, shocking. So he had been right in his earlier assumptions, only wrong aswell.

He idly noted that the fire for his exploding clone might no be too hard to create after all.

"What...just happened? How can I have three affinities already?" he asked positively dumbfounded as he looked to the old man for advice. Even if he no longer trusted the man, he respected his wisdom and knowledge gained after decades of war.

"Your father had two affinities; Lightning and Wind, the rarest two nature types for Konoha. Seeing as they were both extremely strong affinities, he passed both onto you instead of one. Although, I bet it most likely has to do with the Kyuubi enhancing your chakra network faster than most, allowing for three instead of one; that, and the Kyuubi's affinities are recorded to be Wind and Fire, so you must have also attained them through him." the Hokage supplied, not flustered in the slightest.

This told Naruto that the old man definitely knew his parents and well, if he knew one of their affinities. He was absolutely going to use this opportunity to get every piece of info on them that he could, and then recompense from the old man.

Once a hustler, always a hustler. He would milk this situation for all that it was worth, he would need everything he could get soon.

"Tell me about them" Naruto demanded, not bothering to ask. He knew this was the real reason the old man was here the moment he mentioned them. "Tell me about my parents."

"That is why I am here today, Naruto-kun. Especially to tell you about your clan relations. I'll start with your name: Uzumaki, the name of the clan that ruled Uzushiogakure."

He saw the old man raise an eyebrow at him, but he knew that the Hokage had figured out he knew about them already or he wouldn't have been here. He started to speak, "First off, I'll tell you what your clansmen looked like." he took a moment to compose himself. "They were all generally tall, strong people with red, orange or white hair. You're the first I've known that is blonde. They were fair skinned and usually had round faces and purple or violet eyes." As he stopped for a moment, he closed his eyes and smiled deeply. He was probably reminiscing, meaning he knew them on a more personal level.

From that he gained the understanding that his Uzumaki parent didn't show in him at all, except from the slight roundness of his face. This meant that his other parent had bright blonde hair and cerulean eyes. That also meant that his other parent was most likely a Yamanaka, Senju or Namikaze, as no other family, or even civilians, had blonde hair or deep blue eyes. Although, he could be wrong.

"Moving on, let's talk about their fighting style, or capabilities, if you will. In battle, and out of battle for that matter, the Uzumaki were most cunning and intelligent people. Their logic was calm, cool and always precise. Their strategies always had back-up plans, and even back-up-back-up plans. When they were plotting and planning, it was a terrifying thing to be on the receiving end of. I should know, one of them pranked me on a regular basis" he smiled even deeper, but with a sad tinge to it.

He knew an Uzumaki very well, and was quite close if he let said person get away with pranking him, the Hokage. Probably his parent, that would explain why the Hokage was so close to him. He would have to ask.

"Only the Nara of Konoha could match their analytical and masterfully strategic minds – I remember watching a game of Shogi between the clan heads of each clan, it was one of the most amazing spectacles I had ever seen; a beautiful game of art to any general who watched. You are starting to show signs of their intellect.

The Uzumaki were also known for using their brilliant minds to create the worlds greatest and strongest seals, gaining them the unchallenged title of 'Greatest Fuinjutsu Masters Of All Time'. For instance, they had seals that could cast large scale Genjutsu – something they did so that people couldn't find Uzushiogakure –, seals that brought statues to life, fired high level Ninjutsu, absorbed the chakra out of Ninjutsu, made weapons come to life and shape-shifting ones aswell.

They were so famous with seals that Kirigakure no Sato asked them to make several blades for them with special seals on them, all five are now commonly known as swords of Kiri's legendary Seven Swords. The seals giving each blade unique abilities and even managing to make one fully sentient.

That doesn't even begin to describe how they were in battle, though. To further add to their great abilities, they all had Jonin to Kage and higher chakra reserves by the time they were sixteen. They often used these large reserves to cast high-level Ninjutsu of all kinds, but they mostly focused on Water, Wind and Lightning releases. Their techniques often varied into the A and S-rank as they had more than enough chakra to do so; people greatly feared them for this.

Unfortunately, though, their strength and fearsome power was their downfall." Naruto saw the old Kage's saddened face tinged with guilt, he obviously was a part of their downfall and felt guilty for it.

It was saddening to know his clan was dead, but he expected as much, seeing as he had memorised every living clan, bloodline and village for when he defected and had no recollection of an Uzumaki clan, although he had come across the name Uzushiogakure no Sato.

Although it was sad, he moved on quickly. The way he saw it, nothing had changed what-so-ever: he was still parent-less, hated by his own village, and planning treason. What did it matter that he had ancestors who had been dead for years? Didn't everyone? It would be best if he just cut the mopey crap and to get over it, or it would have a negative effect on his escape.

Noticing the Hokage's silence, Naruto decided to get things moving again. "What happened to them?" he asked solemnly. It was best to keep up appearances, he didn't want to come across as though he didn't care.

The Hokage sighed tiredly. "They were wiped out during the Second Great Shinobi War. Kumo, Iwa and Kiri used a surprise attack on Uzushiogakure. We would have sent help, but Iwa and Kumo sent a large force to our north-western and North-eastern front. Our forces were spread too thin to send aid, if we did Iwa and Kumo would have gained some of Fire countries land. I'm sorry, Naruto".

"It's alright, Jiji" _you only fucking left them to die, I forgive you... of course it isn't alright you jacked up bastard! You should stop smoking that 'leaf', it's addling your wits, fool! _He thought angrily.

Naruto knew exactly why they didn't send troops, it was because they didn't want to lose any of their own men to save someone else. They couldn't be asked to lose a small amount of land to Kumo and Iwa out of a stupid sense of pride, because they had never lost any ground before and didn't want to start then, even to save allies. A village who promoted comradeship but left their friends to die just to save their own pride, the hypocrites.

He could already draw up a basic rescue attempt, one that would even allow Konoha to keep their land and gain more. All they had to do was send word to Suna, their allies, to attack Iwa's western borders. Suna would break through the weak line as Iwa had drawn troops to two different fronts. When the attacking troops got word of Suna breaking through their defences, they would have to retreat to bolsters their home-guard.

Whilst those troops were trying to re-enter their land they could be caught in a hammer and anvil strike between the attacking Suna troops and Konoha from behind. Those troops would be destroyed from two sides, allowing Konoha and Suna to gain ground in the land of Earth.

Then, with that side of Konoha's defences relieved they would be able to send troops from there to help quickly fend of the Kumo force in the east. Kumo's forces could only be one third of their army at tops, and that was against two-thirds of Konoha's. It would have been a crushing victory for Konoha, especially as they had the advantages of home ground, terrain, being on the defensive and larger numbers.

From there, all Konoha had to do was repeat the plan with what had happened with Iwa. They would send half their troops to strike Kumo's forces from behind and crush them between themselves and Uzushiogakure's defences. Uzu would have held out longer because Iwa would have had to pull out of the fight before it even began, and so would still be standing.

The combined forces of Uzu and Konoha could then have focused on repelling the remaining force of Kiri. With the defences of Uzu and combined forces of Uzu and Konoha, it would have made a near impenetrable defence. Eventually Kiri would have pulled out due to losses and the loss of their support from Kumo and Iwa.

Uzu could have been saved, he knew that, and yet, Konoha had left them to rot. If he wasn't sure beforehand, he was positive now. Konoha was a place full of liars, vindictive fools and traitors – he had no place here anymore, if he ever had.

"It's not like you could have done anything else, you tried your best" he said with a small smile.

He'd get them later, though. Now was the time to prepare, the future was for vengeance.

The Hokage sighed, his shoulders seemed to sag in relief. "You have no idea how good it was to hear you say that, I couldn't bare it if you blamed me" he admitted.

_Yeah, only because you didn't want me going Kyuubi on you and tearing Konoha a new arse-hole, _he thought sardonically.

"I have a question or two" he started, his voice breaking the silence. At the nod of the Hokage's head he continued, "I have no foundations with my clan's specialisation. My skill with it is non-existent. I find that to be unforgivable, to not have any talent for something my ancestors spent centuries of blood, sweat and tears to gain it's formidable reputation for. So, would you be able to help me find something to teach me the art of Fuinjutsu? I would like to make people remember why they feared the name Uzumaki when used in context with the word Fuinjutsu. And also, do you have any clan techniques that I could learn?"

The Hokage chuckled slightly at that, his mood lifting. "You would be surprised by how terrified people were of your clan; three of the Great Nations feared them so much that they banded together just to destroy them. I think I can do as you ask for the Fuinjutsu."

Naruto smiled as two scrolls were thrown onto the table.

"I had a feeling you would ask the questions you did, so I had these prepared. In one scroll is several books that will teach you Fuinjutsu from beginner, level 1, to master, level 12 – I, myself, am level 13, which is.."

"Wait," Naruto interrupted, his brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean '13'? You just said it only reaches level 12." he asked, for a moment thinking that the Hokage was well in need of retirement.

Naruto almost growled in anger when the old man started chuckling as if he had said something stupid. "Naruto, I said your clan was the greatest to ever exist. Do you think the best of the best only measured themselves by the same standards as others?" he asked as he chuckled harder.

"Your clan was so much better that they went up to level 20. The things they could do with seals at level 20 made level 12 masters, the masters of all the Great Nations, look like children playing with crayons. Konoha, and the other villages, only have the knowledge to reach level 12. But, if you were lucky enough to know an Uzumaki, they would sometimes teach you another level or two so long as you promised not to give that information to anyone else, even your own children – the Yondaime, though, went up to level 20 with the help of an Uzumaki, and he was known as the strongest ninja of our time."

Naruto smiled at that, his clan must have really been something. He couldn't wait to reach that level of skill with seals, but he didn't know how. "Old man, how am I going to reach level 20 without the aid of my family?" he asked.

"With determination and the will to never give up, Naruto." the Hokage replied sternly, startling Naruto. "Look at you now, what you have become with absolutely no help. Sabotaged, even! Just because no-one is there to hold your hand, don't give up. You have the potential to do anything if you apply yourself properly, and don't you forget it."

_He's right, _Naruto thought with a smile, _I've come so far on my own, I don't want to rely on others __now. From now on I swear to myself that I'll never give up again when the going gets tough; I swear that I'll break any and all barriers in my path, because to do anything else would be weak, and I swore not to ever be weak again._

Naruto looked up at the old Kage. _Thank you, old man. Thank you for showing that piece of wisdom, something I plan to live by from now on. Thank you for believing and trusting in me when no-one else would. Even though you have lied to me in the past and betrayed me by keeping secrets from me, secrets that would have meant the world to me to hear, I will truly miss you when I leave. _

"I guess you're right. Maybe you are deserving of that title of 'Professor'" he joked with a smirk.

The Hokage snorted. "Brats these days, no sense of respect".

"That's just how it works, old man."

"I guess you're right, unfortunately. Now, I have also added a lot of seals within that scroll, because whilst the books teach you a wide array of seals, they do not teach you more than ten of each category. Only start using those, though, once you have completed the level requirement for it – the seals are labelled with a number which marks their level"

Naruto nodded his head in understanding.

"Now, let's move on to the other scroll – as you might imagine, it contains the information you require on Uzushiogakure techniques as a whole, not just the Uzumaki clan. There is a book on the Uzumaki fighting styles of Uzuken and Kuiken, two Taijutsu styles that work together in tandem.

There are also books and scrolls on the Uzumaki Kenjutsu style, left by one of your parents. It's a feared style that is also considered a hidden technique due to it using some techniques that use Dark Energy, a powerful Form Manipulation of chakra.

Furthermore, there are around about a few hundred Jutsu in there for you to learn from each element. If you want, though, you could create more seeing as you're already heading down that path, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded his head. "I most likely will. Thanks for all of this, by the way. I appreciate it." he replied earnestly. It was true. Apart from the Uzu thing. "Just one more question..."

The Hokage nodded and Naruto took a breath. _There's no going back after this. I might finally know the truth, but is that a good thing... Or will it be what I think it is?_

"Which of my parents was an Uzumaki?"

"Your.." The Hokage paused, he hesitated. Naruto realised that the Hokage understood the importance of this question now. The old man swallowed nervously. "Your...mother, Kushina Uzumaki. But I have a feeling you already knew that, and as such have figured out who your other parent is."

Naruto was about to smile in triumph, but schooled his face. "Yes."

"Would you care to explain how you figured it out" he asked.

Naruto chuckled slightly "Should a magician reveal his tricks?" he joked, but then answered. "Well, going by the fact that a child's characteristics are usually passed on from the parent with the stronger, more developed chakra network, the Chakra DNA Transference theory, and that I have blonde hair and blue eyes, I can draw a few conclusions:

Firstly, my father has..sorry, had a stronger chakra network than my mother, an Uzumaki whom you said had Jounin to Kage reserves by the time they were sixteen. This also shows that he had higher than Jounin standard reserves, probably Kage level if we are to go by the fact that there is so little of my clan traits within me.

Furthermore, he had blonde hair and blue eyes, very distinctive traits as no civilian has had that hair colour or eye colour that I know of. Only clans. These are the Yamanaka, Senju, or Namikaze."

Looking at the 'Professor', he could see the man was practically smiling now. He was nervous though, his nervousness seemed to be permeating the air. _Just a little more and then I'll have the truth... Good or, most likely, bad._

"That then leads to the probability that I am from one of these clans, seeing as the rarity of such hair colours is one in three-hundred-thousand outside of a clan, that and none have joined the shinobi force, let alone have Kage reserves.

We can take away the Yamanaka as none have been reputed to have Kage level chakra reserves, they're even famous for having small reserves. Also, should I have been a Yamanaka they would have adopted me if my parents had died, but they haven't, so they aren't.

That leaves Senju or Namikaze, both having candidates. The Senju have Tsunade of the Sannin, strong, Kage level and would have been 37 when I was born. There is also the fact that she has left Konoha and may have decided to leave me behind as a parent-less orphan, if she had the choice – you know, me being Konoha's Jinchuuriki and all. This all puts her as a good possibility... except you already said my mother was an Uzumaki. So, she's out, unless she used some spectacular medical Jutsu that allows women to get each other pregnant, a technique lesbians around the world would kill for, but I find that unlikely – the part about the Jutsu, not the lesbians, that's probably true.

That leaves one Minato Namikaze, the last of the Namikaze clan, Yondaime Hokage, seal master and the one who sealed the Kyuubi into me." He paused for a second and watched the Hokage closely, but the old man gave away nothing other than his previous nervousness.

He continued. "Now, he's male, has blonde hair and blue eyes that match my own, has a similar facial structure, has Kage level reserves and has a reason as to why I would be an orphan after he died, and not the last Namikaze. Two things more than that, though, lead me to believe he is my father.

First of, I do not think I just happened to be the closest baby to the best candidate for my father/Hokage the night he needed to seal a giant fox into a new born baby. But sealing a Bijuu into his son who he had been with when he was being born, that makes more sense.

Secondly, the fact of why I am personally favoured from birth by our reining Hokage who most likely doesn't even have enough time to visit his surrogate grandson, but does anyway. This shows that you most likely have a reason that outweighs your constant duty to Konoha, probably guilt, shame, a sense of owing my father, and sorrow for what the village is doing to the Yondaime's last will and legacy.

Add this all up and it without-a-doubt points to Minato Namikaze being my father." He claimed calmly, solemnly, not letting an ounce of doubt enter his voice. He would not let the old man believe that he himself did not believe in this tale. But then he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"But, then again, I could be wrong. So tell me, which is it. Am I right? Or am I wrong?"

Watching him, Naruto saw that the old Kage didn't move in the slightest, he was motionless, his face a blank mask, he was unreadable. Other than the fact that a sort of nervousness permeated the air, like a thin blanket of frost.

The Hokage brought his hand up to his mouth and drank from the glass he held, stalling for time to gather his answer. He didn't have to wait much longer.

With a sigh, the old man answered. "Yes" it was simple and short, not answering anything else.

"Don't bother with the reason why you kept his name from me, I understand that perfectly. All this hate I get everyday may turn to love and adoration, but it would be pointless if I never lived to see my teens. Don't blame yourself for protecting me, I should be thanking you."

That was the last thing he wanted to hear, the old man explaining his decisions and asking for his forgiveness. Forgiveness he could not give, but he could offer understanding instead to stop the guilt flowing through the Hokage. He had felt just as much pain because of the Third's decisions, as he had to the Fourth's.

What he needed right now was to vent some rage on his limitless supply of clones; yet another use for them, anger release, or control, or whatever else you wished to call it. To the clones, and him by default, it was could pain.

_It looks like I was right, the truth was what I didn't want to hear._

"How do you feel about him, your father, the Fourth?" The Hokage asked tentatively, obviously scared of the answer. Rightly so.

Looking in the old mans eyes he smiled warmly to get his point across. "I respect him greatly as a Hokage, in-fact I couldn't think of a better example of Kage than he. The things he done and sacrificed for Konoha are beyond measure, showing his Will of Fire to it's fullest. But as a father...Well," He paused for a moment, thinking on how to answer.

He smiled again as he looked at the Kage. "Let's put it this way: If I could, I would free him from the Shinigami's demonic grip..." The old Kage smiled at that, thinking along the wrong lines, thinking he would save Minato. How wrong he would be. "Just so I could open the gates of Hell and throw him in with a letter of introduction to the Devil, so that he knew who he was torturing and why."

Naruto took a small, but sick delight in the way the Kage's eyes widened and his jaw hinged loose, the way his hands clenched the table in shock as they started to crack the wood, but he didn't care. No, what he did care about was the fact that he could now blame the Fourth as not only the sealer, but his father aswell. Finally, years of guessing whether _Minato Namikaze_, he spat the name like venom in his own head, was truly his father or not was over. He could blame now blame him because he _knew_ the person to blame was truly his father aswell.

It felt like hours before the Hokage replied, but it was probably just minutes. "I see" he said simply, sadly. He looked out the window were the summer sun was shining through, lighting the room were it hit. "I cannot blame you for that; it was a terrible thing to do as a father, but the correct thing as a leader, I'm just glad you understood that."

Naruto nodded, it was good he understood Naruto aswell, or else he would have slapped some sense into the Sarutobi's head with a mallet from the kitchen. He sure as hell wasn't coming of as the bad guy in this, not like usual.

"He is mainly the reason why I am here though, to talk about his side of your heritage and the Kekkei Genkai you have received from him... Well, not him, because he never unlocked it, but rather from his parent, your grandmother. Any guesses on this one?" he asked with a hollow laugh.

He blinked owlishly though. Kekkei Genkai? And from his father's side, but one his father hadn't been able to unlock. That almost seemed unfathomable; the Fourth was already strong enough without a bloodline. What does a God among among men do when you give an extra tool of mass destruction? More?

"Erm..." he couldn't really think of what it could be, but chose the only one he knew that could be unlocked. "Sharingan?"

"Sometimes your just too smart for your own good, I swear" the Hokage sighed tiredly. "I was considered one of the most intelligent shinobi of all time and the 'God of all Shinobi', yet you're making me look bad. Yes, Sharingan."

Naruto was floored, he couldn't actually believe it. He had suggested Sharingan, but that was a joke; he had expected some unheard of and weak one like, say, the manipulation of paper. It was mainly surprising because the Uchiha clan had been slaughtered, so any with family bonds to the Uchiha who had a small chance of unlocking the Sharingan were tested and tried, but none found.

Yet he was there, and related to the Uchiha. He couldn't help but think of how much it would piss off the civilians, he laughed at the mental image.

Of course, this was also brilliant news. He had Sharingan! Possibly. He needed to find out why he might be able to unlock the Sharingan when his father, _the _Yondaime Hokage, couldn't. After all, he might never unlock it and it would just be wasted hopes. By his calculations, by taking in the dilution of Uchiha DNA within him, he only had 3.25% to about 7.5% chance of having Sharingan.

The Hokage carried on, "Your grandmother was Nagisa Uchiha, mother of Minato Namikaze, daughter of the Uchiha clan head, aunt of Mikoto Uchiha who was mother to Sasuke Uchiha the current clan head. She was also not a very capable shinobi, only ever reaching the rank of Chunin, and as such was married off by her father to a strong Shinobi, Shin Namikaze or as he was commonly known 'Yellow Death' for his destructive capabilities with lightning and fire.

There was an agreement between Shin and the Uchiha family that should Minato awaken the Sharingan then he would become an Uchiha, if not then he was free to be a Namikaze. Your father, though, never awakened it, and as such never joined the Uchiha family, but always kept close ties with his cousin, Mikoto. You on the other-hand are free to remain an Uzumaki should you awaken the Sharingan."

Naruto payed rapt attention to the small incite into his family, paying attention to his grandfather especially. 'The Yellow Death' was quite similar to his father's 'Yellow Flash', he considered it was almost like a father son thing to pass on the 'Yellow' title. If so, Naruto sure as hell wasn't going to carry it on, because if someone called hi 'Yellow' anything, he would tear the testicles off with a barbed fish-hook.

What surprised Naruto more than anything, though. He had family. Albeit only a second cousin, but family nonetheless. But then he also remembered how he and Sasuke fought over everything, and how they usually couldn't stay in the same room together. He'd have to change that.

He had knew Sasuke was the last Uchiha, but had figured he would have been so distantly related to him that he wouldn't really count as family. Now, though, he figured he was close enough to actually be labelled family.

It was strange, though, realising that. It bought up a slew of emotions, all varying. There was relief, in the fact that he might finally have someone he could wholly trust; he felt happy that not everyone related to him had died, although both Uzumaki and Uchiha had been massacred; he was also annoyed, angry at the fact that his only living relative was a stuck up, arrogant prick.

His mind though, picked up on the disaster this held for his escape; how could he leave his only family member behind to a bunch of vindictive liars. He would leave on his own, but he would never like leaving behind only relative behind.

"Does Sasuke know that I'm his second cousin? And how do you know that I have the Sharingan? I don't even have dark eyes, which are a trait held by all eyes that hold the Sharingan."

The Hokage laughed again, what seemed like the rolling, booming chuckle of a grandfather who had just heard his grandsons stupid question of 'why?'. "Could you just not realise the small details once? Couldn't you make it easy for me tell you what I need to when I choose to?" he asked to himself. He sighed, "But, you are right. Sasuke should know, in-fact you should tell him; knowing that he hasn't lost everyone may start to heal his broken heart and sanity."

Naruto quirked his eyebrow at that statement. He had always thought that Sasuke was ill mentally, he had a sought of darkness about him that seemed to lurk at the edges of everything he done. But to be declared insane, even if only partially, by the Hokage showed he was far worse than Naruto had realised.

Had Sasuke given into his hatred, his lust for Itachi's blood? Had his vision on reality been warped into that of a dark tunnel of blood covered walls, a tunnel that paved the road to Itachi? Was he Sasuke?

He didn't want to think that someone he knew, even someone that he had never particularly liked, was walking that sort of path, but he had already known it about Sasuke. Naruto already knew what it was like to have a 'dark' life, one full of horrors and pain. It was hell. He wouldn't wish it upon anyone, except most of Konoha.

He nodded. "Sure, it'll give us time to talk. Although, I will probably need mine and my fathers birth certificate to prove it to him."

The Hokage hesitated, but acquiesced to the demand. "Very well, but those documents must not be shown to anyone, understand?" he asked seriously.

"Yes."

"Good. Now, as for how I know you will, or rather, have already unlocked the Sharingan" Naruto choked on his drink, rasping out a 'What?'. "Yes, you already unlocked it. It happened the day you turned seven, when you were attacked by the mob around the time the Ichiraku's died." He gave Naruto a sympathetic and guilty-full look, eyes brimming with love and other emotions.

It made sense, he realised, from what he knew of the Sharingan. From what he knew, the Sharingan was awakened during an extreme emotion of love lost, usually through losing a loved one to death, or through very stressful situations, usually a near-death experience.

His situation had been both; the Ichiraku's had recently just met their end and Naruto was expecting to meet his that night. But that all still left one question.

"Why don't I remember it? Why haven't I used the Sharingan, like when I fought Mizuki?" he asked.

The Hokage frowned at that. He looked guilty again and Naruto didn't like that. "What did you do?" he growled out. Couldn't people just tell him the truth, stop hating him for no reason, and let him make his own God-damned fucking-decisions? No, people would feel like they hadn't filled their daily quota of "Fucking Naruto's Life Up". Heck, they should just celebrate it... Well, there was his birthday, he thought.

"I'm sorry" he sighed, "When I noticed you had awakened it I panicked and had it sealed, along with your eye colour and hair colour." he admitted, sighing again as if a large burden had just been taken of off his back. Whole lot of good it did Naruto.

"Why you shrivelled up bast...Wait! Sealed up my eyes, their colour and my hair colour? What the hell does that mean?"

"You see, the night it happened you didn't just unlock your Sharingan, you unlocked your Uzumaki chakra." Naruto shot him a look of incomprehension that the old man must have seen. "Well, when an Uzumaki is born they have any hair and eye colour, generally. But, in their first life or death situation they unlock their chakra, which is far more potent and stronger than any other chakra, it's why you all get such large reserves.

It also has other effects. This is because the first Uzumaki to ever live was the first Jinchuuriki in history, sealing the Kyuubi into him almost two-thousand years ago. When he had children they all gained minor boosts from their fathers demonic chakra, which strengthened their own exponentially and was later dubbed the Uzumaki chakra. Furthermore, when the chakra is awakened it changes certain aspects of a person, such as hair and eyes, and makes them great hosts for Bijuu, such as you are.

This happened to you that night. So what eye did was place level 11 seals on you that cast a Genjutsu over your eyes and hair, changing their colours from purple and red, respectively, back to blue and blonde. After that I placed a level 13 seal that made you forget of the Sharingan and the events after the attack. I'm able to remove them if you like."

"Just how many more secrets about my past, family and blood do you know?" Naruto asked. He was very tired of this. Every minute he found out something life changing, and that had started about twenty minutes ago. He didn't need anymore... Except if there was a way to leave Konoha. He take that change. He'd make, or was at the moment.

"Can't I just know everything about myself beforehand? I mean it is my bloody right and no fucker has the right to withhold it from me, you included. I understand you may have thought it was right for me or God knows who else, but I've gone through enough shit to at least know myself because everyone else seems to think they know me!" his voice was near to a shout by the time he finished, but he didn't care.

There was a few moments silence, filled only with the sound of birds chirping outside. Eyeing the Hokage, Naruto realised the he was angry, but even more so guilty. It seemed that the Hokage really was sorry for what he done, but that did nothing to mollify Naruto. This was just all so ridiculous.

First, he gained the Forbidden Scroll of Seals and every technique within.

Through his own ideas he had found out he had three elemental affinities.

Then he had gained a clan. And then lost it.

He had gained a heritage of the hardest art to learn in the elemental nations, Fuinjutsu, aswell as a whole hidden villages technique library.

Then he had found out that Konoha had betrayed his clan and left them to die.

Next he had found out his mother was an S-rank, one who was said to have been feared for her Kenjutsu by even the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, if his old Bingo Book was to be believed.

His father had turned out to be that arse-hole Minato Namikaze and made him a walking target for any and all Kumo and Iwa shinobi.

Then he had found out he came from a second clan, they just happened to have been massacred aswell.

He had a cousin, or second cousin, but he found it easier to think of Sasuke as a cousin, without the technical shit.

His eyes had turned out to have been the bearers of the all powerful Sharingan, something he would gladly kill to have, but had had taken away from him the moment he had unlocked it.

He had lost his hair and eye colour, but he didn't care about those, they reminded him too much of _him._

And now it seemed that the Old Man had more to spill. Brilliant, just fucking brilliant. What was he going to do now? Tell him there was a bunch of S-rank shinobi out for his head, not counting the entire village of Iwagakure that stood around 20'000 something shinobi strong? Or did he have some sort of massive destiny to save the world from some power hungry fool who claimed to be doing it all for the greater good, when in actuality he just had a grudge with some other God-like bitch? Just what could he have to put the proverbial cherry on top? Hopefully it wasn't another fucking retarded mistake of a choice made by the Hokage, or he was just going to lose it.

"What?" he asked bluntly.

"Erm, your God-brother is Kakashi Hatake and so is Sasuke Uchiha, and your Godparents are Jiraiya of the Sannin and Mikoto Uchiha."

Naruto pushed his hands through his hair in exasperation and anger. Why were people so infuriatingly stupid? "Hokage-sama, could just take of the seals on my memories and eyes, you can leave my hair as it is, and then could I ask you to leave? I need time to think, vent anger and recollect myself." he asked, or demanded. He just couldn't be asked to stay with a Konoha ninja for any longer or he was liable to kill them, Kage or not.

The Hokage's expression soured at that, his eyes brimmed with unshed tears, his jawed was clenched stiff. His drooped and he stared at the table. "I..." his voice cracked a little. "I see, very well, Naruto-kun. I will do as you ask; this must all be so much to take in" he said, as if trying o comfort himself more than Naruto.

The Hokage stood and walked over to Naruto, a slowness to his step that most would have attributed to age but was more from the grief he was feeling. Naruto could tell his words had hurt the old man far more than he had intended, but did not care. This man had caused him the same, if not more, pain than his father had, loneliness aswell.

Fingers blurred at insane speeds built up from years of use; 42 in almost three seconds, by Naruto's count. "Gen-Fuinjutsu: Akumuku Egao: Kai" with his forefinger and index finger held together, the others intertwined and clasped to the opposite hand, the Hokage poked Naruto's head.

Naruto saw something like and invisible layer over his eyes tremble and dissipate, wavering into nothingness. He realised that was just the Genjutsu seal that covered his eyes being removed, all that was left now was his memories and the unlocking of his alleged Sharingan.

Not paying attention, Naruto only just saw the Hokage pull his fingertips away from a second technique. Shortly afterwards he felt a sledgehammer hit his mind as memories he had forgotten returned to him with something that felt like a hangover.

He groaned. "Oh, that hurts." standing up he looked at the Hokage. "Thank you for today, you may go now" he dismissed.

The Hokage went to leave, but threw one last thing on the table; a slim, grey bank-card for Konoha's shinobi bank. Naruto picked it up and pocketed it.

"I have put the Uzumaki and Namikaze funds into it; this does not mean I'll release your connection to your father though, that must remain secret. The code to open it is your birth-date." he opened the door to leave.

"I would invite you out for dinner, but you haven't come out to eat with me since the 'Ichiraku Incident'... another mistake to my list that I cannot repair. Goodbye, Naruto-kun." with that farewell he had closed the door and left, leaving Naruto alone to himself.

Standing by the door for a while, a small part of him listening to the singing birds on the other side of the door, but mostly focusing on everything that had just happened.

Today he had gained a few things: the knowledge that he would be able to use three different elements to a much better degree than most others; his clan and many things about them; Nature and Shape manipulation guides; a bloodline; parents; a cousin; and money, lots of money if he was right.

He smiled, this could only be good for his escape... no, it was great. If anything, his luck was now tempting fate itself, only bad things could come of that, though. He just hoped it didn't.

Deciding he was late for his training, Naruto created eight clones. One clone would be on Fuinjutsu scroll, one on the Shape Transformation book, one on the Elemental Manipulation book, and the last five would practise the exploding clone at one of the training grounds. He himself would be doing a lot of physical exercising to maximise his training results.

With this he would also test the memory backlash with the clones once they had received substantial knowledge and not just battle memories. If it wasn't bad, he would add more clones and keep repeating the process until he found the best possible training effort.

Before he went to leave himself, he filled his water canteen with Sake; he really could do with something, anything to do other than training, but he needed to prepare himself, no matter how shitty his mood. Naruto Uzumaki was a survivor, and he would never let anything stop him.

"Well, let's get running" he said to himself tiredly. Five whole laps of Konoha would take him half the day, and then he would have to start the rest of his training.

* * *

Hiruzen lowered himself onto the sofa in his office. It was extremely comfortable and always took the weight off of his tired bones, despite what it looked like. He had covered it in a strong Genjutsu Seal that couldn't be broken unless another seal was placed over it. The image it gave off was a large, hard wood throne befitting of a Kage, not the comfortable sofa it really was. It made for a good intimidation factor for clients, subordinates and diplomats alike, it was was very useful.

Tiredly, he started to work on the paperwork in-front of him; Naruto's words had had more effect on him than he thought. First he cleared all of the low-level stuffs that could be done by his secretary and sent them through to him, then he moved onto his things that actually needed sorting.

After twenty minutes of mind-numbingly boring paperwork, Hiruzen was relieved to hear a knock at the door; he didn't seem to have the mental energy to organise, stamp and write up what he needed to today.

"Come in, Asuma" he called, noticing the familiar chakra signatures.

Asuma walked in at a lazy pace, his hair rugged and dishevelled, wearing a standard jounin uniform but with a Ninja Guardian sash around his waist. He also had a cigarette glowing between his fingers, smoke wafting the air; a lot of, if not all, Kage's would have taken great offence to this action, but Hiruzen just had to sigh at his son's defiance. He supposed, Hokage or not, all children would rebel against their parents, and there was not much to be done about it.

The next was the beautiful Kunoichi commonly referred to as 'Konoha's Ice Queen', both for her beauty and her ice temper that could make even the strongest of men terrified. Her long black hair contrasted to her pale skin and red eyes, but matched them perfectly as it framed her face. The red and white of her clothing-wraps accentuating her curves wonderfully, and leaving a lot of the legs to be seen. Stunning.

She bowed at the hip; unlike his son, Kurenai was the epitome of professional. Kurenai was always calm, respectful and highly practising of being the perfect role model for all Jounin and Kunoichi.

Lastly, unsurprisingly, was Kakashi Hatake, a man feared across the Elemental Nations for his speed, strength, Ninjutsu, intellect and famed Sharingan. His gravity defying hair bouncing slightly as he walked in, sitting above the slanted forehead-protector that covered his left eye. Another oddity about his face, or what you could see of it, was that it was covered by a mask which, when matched with the forehead-protector, allowed you to only see the top right-hand side of his face and his right eye. It left a very mysterious image of the renowned Elite-Jounin.

Kakashi wore the standard Konoha Jounin uniform; a green Konoha flak-vest, dark-blue shinobi trousers and long-sleeved shirt, dark-blue, fingerless gloves (so as to not impede his ability to make hand-seals), ankle-tape and shinobi sandals. He also held the Icha Icha Paradise book in one hand so often that most considered it as a part of his uniform.

Despite the laid back and lazy attitude that Kakashi gave off as he openly read porn in-front of his superior, Hiruzen knew that Kakashi's mind would be working through countless possibilities for this meeting, creating plans of action for said circumstances and also digesting the latest sex scene in Jiraiya's novel. He done all this, and looked like the laziest person alive.

"Father."

"Hokage-sama."

"..."

"Good morning, you three; I hope my Anbu didn't have to wake you all" he asked politely, all though he knew they all got up at around five every morning.

"A fine morning, Hokage-sama, and no, we were all at the new restaurant down by district 7" Kurenai informed before Asuma could say something.

"Ah, I'm glad to hear as such. Also, I have heard that this new restaurant, The Fledgling Leaf, is a most excellent establishment".

Kurenai nodded, "Yes, Hokage-sama. I would recommend it myself."

"Yes, Yes." he mumbled as he lit his pipe, signifying that it was time for the reason of this meeting to come to light.

Picking out a file from the many that littered his desk, Hiruzen created two Shadow Clones of the file, making it a total of three which he proceeded to hand out. Each of his shinobi took the documents and started to read them.

After several minutes and the rustling of paper, all three Jounin had read the file. Each of them, other than Kakashi, had looks of shock on their face. Rightly so.

"Thoughts? Suggestions?" Hiruzen asked with a smirk; he didn't like much about the position of Hokage, but he definitely enjoyed the pleasure of surprising experienced Jounin.

Kakashi was the first to recover, though that was mainly due to him knowing half of it. "Is there anything else about him that isn't on this file that you tell us? So that we know everything before we make a decision." he asked, showing his experience and analytical mind as he looked for information that wasn't there.

Although most would have assumed this was all for a failed academy student, in fact, it was absurd, the written account for last night's conversation wasn't all of it.

"Quite" was the Hokage curt response. "He knows of his heritage, Kakashi." said Jounin's eye widened in shock, whilst the other two Jounin looked at Kakashi in confusion. "He has now declared a keen interest in Fuinjutsu and wishes surpass his ancestors. Furthermore, it appears he has awakened his bloodline unlike his father; it is born again."

Kurenai just groaned and rubbed her forehead. "Damn prodigies, making it look so easy." she growled in annoyance and glared at Kakashi.

Kakashi just chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, before turning serious and looking at Hokage. "Well, honestly? A promotion to Chunin whilst keeping him with a Jounin-sensei is the perfect choice. His reasoning was also spot on with those teams from the information he had, his espionage abilities are amazing, and his combat skills are soundly Chunin." he answered.

"I'm feeling a 'but' here, Kakashi." the Hokage asked, but already knew why himself.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Asuma asked, not seeing what was wrong.

"Team selections; now that he knows his heritage and his bloodline, I ask to take him on as my apprentice, not just a student. I could swap Naruto with Choji, that wouldn't be too bad and would fit with the structure that Naruto made as they were both meant to be the close-range specialist."

"Wait, wait, wait." Asuma barged in, his hands waving in-front of him. "One: what's this about his heritage; two: what's his bloodline, I'm sure I would have heard if he had one; and three: why do that? He's got a Wind affinity and I am the only one that can teach him that!"

Kakashi sighed. "I'm not trying to take you away from him because he has a Lightning affinity, Asuma. This is far more personal. Also, his heritage and bloodline are a secret that only three other people know about, so I can't tell you."

Hiruzen watched as Asuma seemed to calm down a little at that and frown. He only hoped that Asuma didn't fight over this; he had already made his mind up.

"Look" Kakashi said exasperatedly, "if you want solid reason for why I'm a better choice for him than you then let me give you some. Naruto needs to be trained with a sword, not chakra knives; you are a B-rank threat with a sword, I'm an AA-rank threat with a sword. Naruto needs to be trained in Wind, Fire and Lightning; you can train him in Wind only, I can train him in Fire and Lightning. Naruto needs training in Fuinjutsu to achieve his latest goal; I'm an Expert Fuinjutsu practitioner, you only know how to write the word Fuinjutsu. And lastly, I'm one of his three legal custodians. Is that good enough for you?"

There was some tension in the room now, that much was obvious. Everyone knew that Asuma was looking for a student to pass his Wind manipulation as there was only one from graduation every ten years, the rarest of all elements. To him, this was his chance to pass everything he knew on to someone else, for someone to carry on his legacy.

Asuma stared Kakashi down for a few moments, but relented with a sigh. "Fine, but I can still teach him Wind Release every now and then, Ok?" Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Good. Now what's this about you being Naruto's legal custodian?"

"Yes, I would like to know that aswell." Kurenai added.

"He can't tell you the reasons why, it's confidential" Hiruzen informed them, stopping that line of conversation; he didn't want to answer any of those sorts of questions today. "And Kakashi, your request is granted. But, I want a full report on his skills, everything down to the last detail. Now, all these suggestions by Naruto will be carried out with him switching with Choji, dismissed".

Three Shinobi disappeared in a puff of smoke, except for Kakashi who used the leaf Shunshin and left a nice pile of leaves in the middle of the office. He motioned for an unfortunate Anbu recruit to clear it all up.

Today had just started and Hiruzen had a feeling that it was going to get worse somehow, much to his annoyance. He took solace though, in the fact that he had found a full pouch of marijuana hidden under his work. He took it and sprinkled some into his pipe, enjoying his small victory. Hiruzen enjoyed the small things.

'The small things are important, after all. Seconds are small things, and if you heap enough of those on top of one another, they become a man's life.' he thought to himself with a small smile, but it then turned to a frown. He remembered the way that Naruto had called him 'Hokage-sama' for the first time, no longer 'Jiji. Yes, the small things mattered. They mattered a lot, but now his small victory seemed so insignificant to that one word, that one loss.

He tried to force a smile, to reassure himself, but his soul didn't feel the need; this sadness wasn't bitter, it was sweet justice for his mistakes, this was his punishment. A tear caressed his cheek, following the contours of face, the lines from years of smiling, but today he didn't smile. He would never forget that tear, as e reflected on his life, it was his punishment.

* * *

**End Chapter**

Well, chapter three.

First of all, I want to thank all of your excellent support, reviews and ideas; everything you have said goes into consideration when writing every chapter I make. So keep it up.

Secondly, Sorry. I know this chapter is boring, like the last two, but the action will kick off in the next chapter and you will get a good look at Naruto's skill-set.

Next, sharingan, For those of you who don't like this stuff, I ask you to give it a try. I don't see enough good and reasonable sharingan stories of Naruto, so I've decided to do one myself. Naruto will not be gaining Rinnegan from this, that eye is fucking Op, so no. But the Sharingan has a reasonable area and margin for me to make him develop well, but not impossibly, and things that I can train with. He will have to work for his Sharingn to become its best and will have to master it stage by stage, so if you wanna read that just keep doing it.

Now for Minato. Naruto is an intelligent person and not a happy go lucky fool, and so hates his father, like I would if i was in his situation. Seriously, Minato fucked his sons life up big time, and parenthood is the greatest duty out there, so the village will always come second.

Also, Naruto's attitude. I hope this chapter has shown you how Naruto is intelligent, but not a stoic piece of ice like the Hyuuga. He will have anger, love hate, the whole shibang.

Lastly, any ideas, thoughts or constructive criticisms are much welcomed, just don't flame.

Until next time (a week or two this time, this chapter was fucking hard to write). Also, I will answer all reviews next chapter, just didn't have the time this time around.


	4. The Angry, The Sorrowful and The Broken

Hello and welcome back to the Jeremy Kyle Show... Wait, I meant my fabulous book, or whatever.

First off I am going to answer some reviews:

*To all those who praised my work. Thank, thank you very much. What keeps me, and most authors, going is the compliments and love of our fans, or just reviewers. Without this we would never feel the need to actually do this and stop, but not when we have such great readers. So keep it up!

*Genjutsu, the touchy subject that it is with Naruto, will mainly only work in two ways: Sharingan and Fuinjutsu. He will not use any other way as it is not his style, not because of some fandom stereotypes for it. What would be the point of a close range, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu specialist using something that take so much skill, effort and time to learn? None, so I'll keep him to his skill set and some Sharingan techniques, just to placate that desire and for his future mastery of said Dojutsu.

*His Mangekyou Sharingan will be unlocked, and that will happen somewhere around mid-way to two-thirds of the way through this fanfiction. Sasuke will unlock his as well, but I will be downgrading the Susano'o a bit (That technique is Op: high S-rank defense, S-rank attacks, and generally impervious to everything). Naruto's Mangekyou, though will not have Susano'o as it's not matching to his fighting style, and instead will have a new Genjutsu to replace Tsukyomi, a special ability unique to him that isn't anywhere near Op, and most likely Amaterasu.

*About him leaving Konoha. I will not rush it, and will build things up in Konoha to make his departure all the more realistic and effective for you readers. I don't want to rush it and skip out on valuable potential that somethings may hold, but instead shall give you your moneys (or times, in this case) worth so that you go away happy. But more importantly come back happy!

*Lastly, Wheel of Time. Good on all of you who have spotted it. This means you are some of the ones who have read some of the finest creations in existence, better than Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) in my opinion. You have read excellent quality writing, with great structure and some of the best characters in history (Matrim Cathoun and A'Lan Mandragaron). As you read my story you shall find hidden quotes from Robert Jordan's masterpiece, as well as other hidden links. If you see any, call them out if you can, I'm interested on how well you may know the stories.

Now, without further ado, the new chapter.

* * *

"Alone and scarred,

This worlds is too dark,

Light no longer prevails,

This capsule of my dirty tale,

X

The pain is agonising,

Though it never truly healed,

It shall forever torment, terrorising,

But it shall forever remain concealed,

X

Sometimes I am asked,

Have I always been this way?

It breaks my heart to answer,

But it is the truth that I must say,

X

No I have not always,

But probably will always be,

A shell inside an empty world,

Is the living part of me,

X

I see it all around me now,

Lurking, waiting,

Hovering over my shoulder,

A grim reminder,

X

I've kept it in for so long,

Living without any feeling,

Numb to the world and all alone,

My sadnessess taking a much bigger form,

X

But now in this kingdom of eternal sorrow,

The land of death and pestilence,

A waking terror that is known as my heart,

I seek to find an inner-strength, my resolve,

X

Having reached this turning point, now,

For I have realised with sweet clarity it's never too late,

To banish this merciless prophet of sadness,

It's time to cast your impeding fate,

X

No longer will you hurt me,

No more pain will I feel,

This day will end my disparity,

And break that cursed seal,

X

My emotions will flow with hatred,

And death you will meet, Itachi,

Through this day of reckoning I have realised,

Revenge through success isn't bitter; it is sweet clarity, it is finality."

-Maunderse-

* * *

"_Please, just stop. I promise I won't prank you anymore" he promises pleadingly as he curled into himself, blonde blood-matted hair covering his eyes._

_A dark, throaty chuckle rippled through the ally. It bounced of the walls, surrounding him in an eery silence of laughter. He ignored the man and continued to cover his vital areas with his arms and legs, curling into himself whilst protecting his head with his arms. This was the carefully constructed defence of someone who was used to danger. _

"_We know you won't; you won't be alive come tomorrow." Again his laughter reverberated against the walls, joined this time by his peers._

_The laughter escalated, magnified, multiplied as it joined and conformed into a chorus of joyfulness that mocked him, using something so happy to mark his sadness, his loneliness. He felt the presence all around him, crushing and crumpling him to the ground, by the power of darkness._

_Within himself, despite his little kingdom of eternal sorrow, he sought an inner strength wrought of fire and steel. His proverbial sword of hope. He sought his own little refuge within himself, his palisades of stone and steel walls that would protect his inner self from the outside world, his hell._

_He started the exercise that he had red from a book that Itachi had left inside of the scroll. It was called the 'Flame and Void' or 'Oneness'. First he pictured an endless void within himself, something were nothing existed for all of it's eternity. Empty. _

_Once he had that nothingness, that empty zone were nothing grew, like an infertile field were no life could grow and none take residency upon it, he moved onto the next stage. Steadily, he cultivated and grew a flame within his mind, within the Void. With a spark, it ignited and came to life._

_At first it was weak, blowing in the non-existent wind of the Void, flickering in the darkness of the endless nothingness. Then, suddenly, the glow roared and the Flame grew; a perfect source of warmth and destruction, it was intense and full of life. _

_He moved on again, this stage the hardest and most important. All concerns – emotions, thoughts, feelings of pain and even concerns of life and death – were fed into the flame, being destroyed as they came into existence. This allowed for the user, himself, to perceive reality as it is, in the present moment. Pain and fear became passing phenomena, fleeting feelings that were irrelevant. The separateness of himself and the enemy disappeared. There was only the Void._

_He had read, from the book, that this technique was used by warriors of old that were simply referred to as 'Blademasters'. They would use it when they were entering battle, allowing them to destroy all emotions that may have clouded their vision, or forced them to make mistakes. It was also able to destroy pain, making cuts and bruises and even lost limbs irrelevant, allowing the user to fight at full capacity._

_It also allowed for what some would call superhuman perception. With all fears, pains and concerns taken away, the human brain was able to process and react to information at a much better rate, allowing them to best many other combatants that couldn't access the Void. It was an excellent tool._

_As his concerns were all thrown into the Flame, he watched grow exponentially within himself. The fears and pains he now felt as his attackers began their assault, battering and beating his body, were quickly thrown into the Flame aswell, feeding it further. He felt no pain, he felt no fear, he simply was the Void._

_It was a strange sense of being, to have no emotion, no pain, no concerns; it was like being hollow, as though something was missing, except nothing was missing, just gone._

_He focused more and more on the Flame as fear and pain started to grow, to expand. He quickly quelled them with the Flame, but they rose up again like a decedent rising from his shallow grave. It was becoming a battle of attrition. Would they give up their attack first? Or would he give in? Time would win either way._

_The Flame started to shrink, to grow cold as it started losing it's battle; it appeared Time wasn't on his side either. Like a sea of blue wisps, they probed and tested the defences that the Flame held, licking and kicking at it's orange glow, beating it down._

_Through the haze of blood and blonde hair, he realised he had already lost; the man who had laughed the loudest brought out a knife. It looked like none of this mattered in the end, the Void would not save him from blood-loss. His calm resignation to death would have shocked him any other time, but the Void and Flame fought it down._

_The Flame and Void shattered suddenly as the knife was plunged into his stomach. The emotions, fear, pain and all of his concerns came back with interest. The pain magnified itself upon it's arrival, like a tsunami that had receded to build up strength, and now the pressure had reached it's limits and it had hit back. Hard. And just as strongly came his sudden fear._

_He coughed out blood as the knife was pulled away, it felt as though molten lava had just been poured onto his stomach and cooled off just as quickly with liquid nitrogen. He watched as the blood poured out of his stomach, slicking up his hands as it travelled through his fingers._

_A scream pierced the bleariness he now felt, reverberating of the walls just as much as the laughter. Louder, though, he noted unconsciously. Feeling it was important, he looked up to see what had happened. He was shocked and hopeful at what he saw._

_Tall and proud, an Anbu agent stood there in vivid detail that surprised him, it was like he had suddenly put on glasses and was no longer blind. The world around the Anbu was a mess as the bodies fell dead to the floor, blood splattering everywhere._

_The Dog masked Anbu turned to him and the last thing he heard before the blackness reached him was the shocked muttering of a word that made no sense."Sharingan!" He knew only darkness afterwards._

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto's eyes shot open. It appeared he had had a dream... a nightmare of that night. It was the recollection of awakening his Sharingan. A very, very vivid recollection.

Getting up out of bed, he realised that his body was drenched with sweat. It was obviously as intense as he thought it had been, especially now. He rolled the sheets off and threw them at the washing basket, and quickly put some others on afterwards.

That done he went to the bathroom deciding to get a shower now that he was awake. He needed to loosen up and wash away the sweat, but he also needed to clear his head to do some thinking. So, when he stepped into the steaming jets of water, he felt completely at ease, like a small weight had been taken from him.

The throb of the water as it splattered into his back was almost hypnotising, each droplet of water massaging his shoulders, head and back in rhythmic blows. It was times like these that he enjoyed, the little things like these. 'Because, in a world were everything hates you, the little victories are all that we have.' he thought cynically, chuckling a little to himself.

After another twenty minutes, ten of hot water and ten of cold water – his annoying landlord must have realised that he needed the hot water and had cut it off out of spite, bastard – that done little to relax him, Naruto walked out of the shower dripping wet. He shivered slightly at the rush of cool air, but got dried quickly.

A minute later he found himself dried, dressed and ready to go, but was instead stood in-front of the mirror. The focus of his attention was his eyes, their deep, dark violet starring back at him. His _real _eyes.

He had always thought that eyes he wore were lies, nothing but the image of a happy child, not one with regular dates with tragedy. They always looked so bright, so full of life. His eyes were actors on a grand stage, but now it seemed their show was over. No longer did he lie to people just by looking at them, instead he held truth in his gaze.

Looking at the deep violet eyes that seemed to glow and shine, he couldn't help but smile. They shined in a way that showed the striking visage of sadness and loneliness. His new actors did not have to pretend, they fitted their role on stage perfectly. Their gaze saturated to the core with deviousness, cunning and intellect; so piercing he might consider them knives of ice. These were _true _eyes, and he couldn't be happier about it.

Getting an idea, he channelled a small amount of chakra to his eyes. He watched intrigued as his violet eyes seemed to fade and melt into a blood red eye. The red iris was ringed with a thin, black edge. Furthermore the pupil seemed a little wider. And lastly, there was a single black tomoe on each eye, signifying their stage development.

The other things he noticed was how clear everything seemed, just like that night. He noticed that things stood out in finer definition, such as the small, almost indistinguishable coffee stain at the bottom of his shirt. It was unnoticed at first, in-fact he had checked himself to make sure that stain was gone after he had washed it. Now though, now these eyes easily picked up on the stain as though it was a bright white on his black clothing.

He noticed he could see further as he looked out of the window. Colours were more vivid, so much more life in them than they had before. It was as though he had been watching the world through squinted eyes until now, like he was truly seeing for the first time in his life. It was addicting, almost.

A bird flew past the window, but it seemed slower, it's movements more sluggish and effortful than what they had always seemed. Waving his hand in-front of his face had the same effect. Slow. The world around him had been slowed down.

He blinked back in surprise though as he focused on his hand. It was glowing a sort of white blue, and his 'glow' was incredibly intense, like looking at the sun too suddenly and almost getting blinded by it. He knew this was his chakra though, and he had the feeling that no-one else had as bright a 'glow' as he did because of how dense, and how much chakra he had at his disposal.

"So, stage one unlocks the Uchiha's Perceptive Clarity capability, Chakra Perception Ability, and the Fast Movement Tracking ability" he mumbled to himself with a smile.

He stopped letting the chakra flow to his eyes, letting them drop back into their wonderful violet. Instantly he felt a sort of sadness at the lack of better sight, like coming down from an adrenaline rush. It all felt so euphoric.

Shaking himself of the feeling, he focused on what he had to do next. Talk to Sasuke.

"Well fuck."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sasuke pulled on his last piece of a clothing, a blue shirt with the Uchiha crest. It completed his usual set of traditional Uchiha clothes: a blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and an Uchiha crest on the back and white arm-warmers, completed with a pair of white shorts, blue shinobi sandals and the leaf headband on his forehead.

Walking down stairs he started off his daily ritual. First of all he would go to his parents room in which a small shrine was dedicated to his parents and clan, though it mainly focused on his mother and father. He would then proceed to tell them how he was doing and to promise that he would avenge the clan by killing his beloved brother.

After this he would have some breakfast and prepare a lunch. He did this to prepare him for the day of training and so that he wouldn't have to return to the house until about 8 at night, meaning he had a lot longer to train. Before heading out though, he would do some routine stretches to make sure he could start at a jog instead of walking.

His jog took him around the entire Uchiha compound, through every street and every close, everywhere that an Uchiha lived. He done this as a reminder, so that he always knew what he was fighting for. Revenge. It was also to honour his fallen clansmen, in a way. He didn't want any of them to be forgotten, and as such had memorised the name of every clansmen killed that night, even the children.

The sting of Itachi's betrayal hit him every morning, like a whip that continued it's punishment. But day by day, the sting lessened as his skin toughened and protected him from the whip's lashes, or his heart was just used to pain so much that it didn't bother him anymore.

He remembered the times that he and his brother used to spend together developing his skills in combat, just laughing around, or even just in silence. His brother always knew the right way to treat him, never once getting it wrong... well, disregarding the massacre.

Most of all, though, he had remembered how Itachi hadn't pressured him, had never downplayed his abilities, or compared him to his-self. He had been able to step outside of his brothers shadow and become a person in his own right, and it was all thanks to his brother. Those had been the happiest days of his life.

He cleared his head of those thoughts and focused on his jog as he reached the Uchiha forests; it was not good to look at the past, it was already a fixed moment in time and couldn't be changed. The future, though... Well, there was room for anything in the future, it was just so tangible.

A shuriken imbedded itself into the ground a few inches from Sasuke. Acting on instinct he jumped backwards as more struck the ground were he had been, several showed their trajectory as coming from the tree tops to his left.

His hands were already in motion as he retaliated with a barrage of shuriken to were the others had came from. He heard a distinct popping sound, as though something had just exploded into air. From the sound he concluded the thing he had hit must have been some mist or smoke based clone.

Ducking, his ears picked up on the sound of sound of a blade swishing over his head. So they were going for killing blows. They must have been here to end Konoha's famed Uchiha clan. He smirked at that, it seemed some nations – this one being Kiri if the mist clone and sword were anything to go by – were already scared of his power and potential. It would be common courtesy that he at least put on a show for the man he was about to kill, then.

Two Kunai spun and he caught one in a reversed grip, and the other in a normal grip. It was just in time too, as the masked ninja spun around and swung his sword in a diagonal arc from his left shoulder down towards his right thigh. He gritted his teeth as his two kunai blocked the slash with a spark and loud clash, the strength behind the swing pushing his arms back.

Realising that strength was in his enemies favour, Sasuke used his opponents momentum to let his sword pass next to him as he side-stepped into open space. He aimed for a quick slash at his opponents shoulder, hoping to disable the use of one of the assassins arms. He didn't expect him to recover that quickly though, and had to pull back and block another slash at his head.

"Who are you?" he growled out in annoyance; this fight wasn't going to be as easy as he thought, his opponent had excellent strength and speed.

"Itachi Uchiha" the masked man replied cockily.

'You're so dead now' he growled mentally.

Dropping down, he sent a swipe kick at the assailants legs, but missed as he jumped up and away. Perfect. Keeping low and getting to one knee, Sasuke dropped his kunai and ran through a set of hand seals at a rapid pace.

He routinely breathed in the air, collecting it in his lungs, quickly kneaded it with just about half of his chakra reserves and started to breath it out of his mouth. As the chakra soaked air began it's journey, Sasuke pushed Fire chakra into it, setting it ablaze. The stream of fire left his mouth but was already shaped into a large ball as it shot towards his opponent.

"Katon: Gokyakou no Jutsu" he cried out as the flames no longer streamed from his lips.

Gleefully, he watched as the man in black was hit by the large fireball that shot towards him, engulfing him in intense flame before he could land. The man did not cry out in pain though, much as Sasuke had expected. No, instead he had watched the cause of his death burn him alive without making a sound.

With it over, Sasuke applauded his combatant for testing him so. "You were extremely fast and strong, but you were unable to use that sword to a suitable degree. If you had used Taijutsu, I am pretty sure you would have won. You died like a true ninja though, silent in the face of death." he praised his opponent with a smug smile on his lips. "Though, of course you would lose to an Uchiha; we are the elite ninja of..."

"You should really just shut the-fuck up!"

Sasuke cursed and turned to face his supposedly dead enemy. He cursed again as it seemed the sword had disappeared and was now going to approach him in Taijutsu. 'I should have just shut my mouth.' he berated himself mentally.

His left hand came up and deflected the incoming fist to his face, his right hand sent a heavy hook for the man's face but missed. He stepped back and lent his head back out of the way of a very fast jab. Stepping back again, Sasuke started to panic as the punches started to rain down on him in heavy and extremely fast combos.

Constantly back-peddling because of the need to avoid the punches, Sasuke found no opening to exploit as he simply wasn't fast enough to get inside of his opponents guard. Quickly, he felt the effects of his enemy's punches. His punches were starting to bruise up Sasuke's arms.

Seeing the need to take a risk, Sasuke sent a kick up to the ninja's head, but was blocked by a forearm. Using it to push off and summersaulting back, he sent a quick kick out with his left foot and caught the ninja's chest.

As he landed he threw out some shuriken to stall his enemy. Performing a set of hand seals again, he replicated the same process as earlier, but this time in small bursts. The result was around six small and fast balls of fire heading for the assassin again. Making sure to do all that he could this time, he threw six shuriken to follow in the shadows of the miniature fireballs.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"

It was to no avail though as the enemy substituted with a log. 'Damn his reflexes!' he thought angrily. With a scowl he searched the wooded area for his enemy, hoping that the enemy had decided to retreat.

"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" a voice cried out, and suddenly about 30 of the masked assailants came into existence. Solid ones too, if the shadows of the clones were anything to go by.

Sasuke was panicking now, though. He could barely handle one of these guys, and that was with a full tank of chakra. Now, though, he had about 10 percent of his reserves, little energy left, and was acing all over. 'Shit! I can't win this! I need to escape somehow..' he thought desperately, but had to quickly start fending of punches left and right.

What he done next he would never remember, his body was just on auto-pilot. A kick or punch would come in and he would try to divert it with minimal effort. Clones circled him, dropping in and out of view as he took hit after hit, but only managed to dispel four of the clones.

Slowly, though, his opponents attacks began to slow down, gradually becoming easier and easier to divert, then block, and then he was even able to counter. He was also able to start reading his opponents movements, becoming easier to predict what he would do next. The world around came to life in startlingly vivid clarity.

Before he knew it, only two remained: the real one and one more clone. Once again he allowed a cocky smirk to play across his lips, although it was fake. He knew that solid clones only held one-tenth of the ability of there creator, so he was outmatched against him. He also only had about 8 percent of his chakra left, as two percent of it had drained for some unknown reason. If he carried on and lost 3 percent more of his chakra he would fall into the chakra exhaustion zone of 5 percent and he would pass out.

"That's most of your weak clones, asshole. I'll give one chance to leave here with your life for giving me an excellent ….. Naruto?" he asked in surprise.

The masked figure had taken of the whole-headed, black cloth mask. Blonde bangs fell down his face, framing it, the rest just flopped out into a messy mop of hair. Whiskered cheeks and purple eyes also caught his attention, especially the eyes.

"What... What the hell are you doing attacking me?" he shouted angrily. "You could have killed me!"

To his surprise and anger, Naruto just laughed. What he said was an even bigger surprise though: "Well, isn't that a requirement for unlocking the Sharingan?" he asked with a joking smile and pointed to Sasuke's eyes. It was then that he realised.

The way he was able to more easily predict Naruto's movements, how he slowed down, the new found clarity in his sight... and now that he checked, Naruto seemed to be glowing a light blue from were he stood. It all made perfect sense.

Pulling out a kunai, he checked the reflection. "Sharingan!" he whispered as he stared at his eyes disbelievingly. "But... But why? Why did you help me get them? I thought you hated me?" he asked, still somewhat shell shocked.

"A gift, Sasuke. Something to make you a little bit more inclined to listen to what I have to say. Besides, I never did hate you, you just didn't like the fact that I'm stronger" he smiled again, but it was more of a smile that showed he was planning, or had just witnessed a plan together. Naruto looked around at the torn up forest. "Shall we go inside to talk?"

Sasuke nodded his head. "Follow me." he commanded simply and walked straight for his house.

He didn't wait to see if Naruto was following, he knew he would. So he walked, neither he or Naruto saying a word as he considered everything that had happened. He made sure not to let his guard down now, though. He wasn't stupid.

After a few minutes walk they had arrived at his home. Sasuke ushered a guest into his home for the first time in five years, but paid it little mind. "Drink?" he asked. He was unsociable, but would always abide by household etiquette; his mother had beaten such values into him at a young age.

"Got any fruit smoothies? Then I'll have a Tomato smoothie, a green one if you've got it." he asked as he sat on a kitchen chair.

He quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "You like Tomatoes? And Tomato smoothies?" Naruto nodded his head. "Hn, I thought I was the only person that could stand them. Here you go." he gave the pre-made smoothie to Naruto who started drinking it straight away.

Moving round to the other side of the dining table, Sasuke puled out a chair and sat down. How should he start this? Bluntly, he supposed. He didn't like beating around the bush.

"So," he asked, "what do you want to talk about?"

He didn't tell Naruto, but for the favour he had just done for him, Sasuke was willing to give him half the Uchiha's bank account or a mother-load of Jutsu. The least he could do was listen to him, even if he didn't like him. Well, he didn't like anyone for that matter.

"This." Naruto pulled out a small envelope and threw it onto the table. "Read both birth certificates before you say anything, okay? Good."

This was one strange morning. First he had been attacked, then he had unlocked his Sharingan, then he had found out it was all Naruto and a plan to awaken his Sharingan, and then found out that was just an incentive for the Uchiha to listen to him. Now he found out it was all for his Birth Certificate.

But he went and picked it up anyway. It must be important if he went to all this trouble. He subtly ran his hands along the small, yellow envelope to check for any hidden traps. It didn't matter though, Naruto caught the action and smiled, that and there were no traps.

Pulling out the certificate, he began to read. But, after only about two seconds he dropped the paper and stared at Naruto.

Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash, son of the Yellow Death, SS-rank ninja with a flee on sight order, the man renown for the Iwa massacre, notoriously one of the strongest ninja to ever live, a man with a kill count exceeding 20'000 on his own, the Yondaime Hokage, hailed as the Hero of the Leaf, and apparently Naruto's father.

"What..." he started, but was stopped by Naruto.

"It's true. Don't say anything. Just read that one, then read the next." he ordered sternly.

Sasuke was going to object; who the hell did he think he was? But then he remembered his deal and closed his mouth, even though he would have rather stabbed himself. Still shocked by what he read, Sasuke picked up the piece of paper again and read. Father: Minato Namikaze. Mother: Kushina Uzumaki.

Kushina Uzumaki! Another S-class, renowned ninja was Naruto's parent. And if he was right, this was the Kushina Uzumaki who was his mother best friend and team-mate, also his Godmother before she died. That made Naruto his Godbrother, or some such thing. That …. would have to wait for later.

Again, he read on. Godparents: Jiraiya of the Sannin and Mikoto Uchiha. Well shit... He noted how it was ironic that both of them had lost their real parents, but their godparents had died aswell. They must have both pissed Kami off somewhere along the line.

Deciding this crap was all becoming too much, Sasuke pulled out the last sheet so that he could get this over with. Reading it though came as an even bigger surprise than the last.

"You're an Uchiha!" he all but screamed.

He couldn't believe what that all said. Naruto was the grandson of Nagisa Uchiha, his great aunt. That meant he had family again, or one that he hadn't sworn to kill. He was close family aswell, not just some cousin that's connected to him 13 generations down the line. This was what he hoped for for years.

Ever since that day, Sasuke had practically wished for an Uchiha family member to show up out of the blue. To defy all odds and come home. He had wanted it so bad, just so he could talk to someone, let alone have family again.

After the incident he had wanted to talk to someone, anyone, about what he felt, what he wanted. A shoulder to cry on, even. But his Uchiha pride hadn't allowed him to lean on anyone else's shoulder, to talk to them about it all. What happened to his clan was his business and his business alone.

Yet it hadn't stopped him wishing for someone to be there, and now there was! He couldn't believe it, but the Birth Certificate for the Fourth had the Uchiha crest on it, marking it as real. The one for Naruto also had the Third's seal, making that authentic aswell.

"Is... are you... how?" he stumbled on his own words, stuttering like a fool. He didn't care, though.

Naruto chuckled to himself as he watched. Sasuke still didn't care. "The 'Yellow Death' was married off to Nagisa Uchiha, or the other way around, to strengthen the Uchiha name. They had a son named Minato Namikaze. There was a deal that should he awaken the Sharingan, then he would take on the Uchiha name. He never did and so remained Namikaze."

Sasuke nearly choked on thin air. If the Fourth had borne the Uchiha name, their fame and infamy would have increased a-hundred fold. How they missed out on that was beyond him, but it answered some of his questions.

"He went on to have a son, me, but no-one knew. You see, the night my father died I was taken by the Third and placed in an orphanage with my mothers name, all to keep me safe from my father's enemies. The Uchiha never knew I was an Uchiha descendant, and as such never laid claim to me, and Itachi never killed me."

That was very annoying, in-fact it was enraging. The Third had been the one who had told Sasuke he would do all he could for him, but that was just a bold-faced lie. He had known all along that Sasuke was craving family and he had forgot to mention there was some family he still had left in Konoha.

He also took in the fact by how angry Naruto was, noticing the way he glared at nothing in particular and the clenching of his hands around the wooden table. The Third had only recently told Naruto aswell, it seemed. Trying to think about it, Sasuke just couldn't imagine what it would be like for an orphan to find out he actually had family, and then to find out they had been kept from him.

"Although, that all went out the window when I awoke the Sharingan, against all odds, and the Third had to reveal my heritage to me. That answer your questions?" he asked as he activated his own Sharingan.

Sasuke observed the Sharingan intently, noting everything about it. He also tried a Genjutsu release to make sure it was real. When he had confirmed it, Sasuke smiled. He didn't smirk. He smiled for the first time in five long years. His wish had been granted it seemed. The one about family, not the one about Itachi swallowing his own tongue and choking to death.

"I... Yes, it does." he answered slowly. "But what do we do now?" he asked.

He was glad for a family and all, but it had been so long he just didn't know how to act around people properly; he usually ignored all girls and answered most questions with a grunt. This was a strange situation for him.

Naruto raised an eyebrow questioningly. "You're asking an orphan that question? Seriously?" he sighed. "I don't know. I guess we just get to know each other better and take it from there."

He stood slowly, but started stretching out his muscles. Smirking, he decided to do the only male bonding exercise that he knew. "Want to fight?"

Naruto raised his eyebrow and smirked back. "Sure, I give out arse-kickings for free."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Laughing to himself, Naruto carried an unconscious Sasuke into his bedroom. He dropped him onto the bed with a heavy thump, then turned to leave. It was only Sasuke's call the that stopped him.

"Naruto, you can use the spare bedroom; it's too late to walk home, so you might aswell." he offered, mumbling as his face was squashed against the pillow.

He thought about it for a minute before accepting; he couldn't be asked to walk home anyways. "Sure, see you in the morning." he replied as he walked out.

A few minutes later he was laying down in an extremely comfortable bed, one that made his lumpy piece of crap feel like iron in comparison. But it was to be expected; this was the Uchiha heads house, so he doubted they would have anything but the best. Even the bed-sheets were made of fine silk and had hand woven pattern on them.

Looking back on the day he couldn't help but smile, it had all went so perfectly. His original plan to awaken Sasuke's Sharingan had worked, and now the Uchiha heir would feel extremely indebted to him. That had lead to Sasuke believing the documents far more quickly than he may have done under different circumstances. It had even made it easier to get Sasuke out of his shell.

During their hours of training and sparring, Sasuke had, after some prodding, opened up and talked a bit. It had been fairly simple stuff, such as he was upset after he lost his clan. How it felt to lose everything in a day. The hurt of his idols betrayal. The anger and hate he felt towards his brother, and promise he had made to kill him.

In return Naruto had told him about the Kyuubi. How he hated his father for it. The law behind it. The way the villagers treated him, including the awakening of his Sharingan. He had went into a lot of detail about his mother's clan and how he knew Konoha had left them to rot. He had also told him about the fact that he had been made Chunin, which actually spurned him on to train harder.

All in all, Naruto had had a great day. Especially when he had beaten Sasuke again, he had thought that the Shuriken that had lodged itself in his arm had beaten him. 'He was good. But he thought I was finished, with only one arm. He didn't understand. I only surrender when I'm dead.' he thought with a small chuckle.

But now that Naruto had started it, he was going to continue to cultivate Sasuke's hate for Konoha. He already had very little loyalty to the Leaf, but now hearing about their treatment of Naruto and how they had left Uzu to die, Sasuke's loyalty was waning, and Naruto could see it. It would only be a matter of time.

Naruto had further cemented Sasuke's trust by teaching him the Tree Walking exercise and helping him complete it in one night, allowing Sasuke to now channel chakra around other parts of his body successfully and safely. The result had been that he could now use chakra to reinforce his limbs to make himself faster, stronger or even more resistant to damage. It also made the chakra he needed for his Fire Jutsu to cost a lot less, shaving off about one-fourth of the amount used. It was a shinobi must, the basics.

Closing his eyes, he smiled as he realise his plan to save Sasuke from Konoha was working well. He just needed something now, something that would push him from Konoha altogether.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"So, you going to tell me why you haven't used your clan vaults before?" Naruto asked.

He had woken up that morning and had a slightly awkward breakfast with Sasuke. When asking what he wanted to do that day, Sasuke had said he had wanted to see what was inside the clan vaults. He knew what was in there, Jutsu their clan had copied and the such, but he didn't know specifically.

"You need Uchiha blood and to have unlocked the Sharingan to even enter. I haven't had the last until now, so I might aswell try and open it." he answered nonchalantly.

"Whatever, let's just go in."

Sasuke seemed to prepare himself as he took a deep breath, and then he walked forward and went through a set of seals slammed his hands into the double-doors. A Fuinjutsu seal spread out from the point of contact like a spider-web over the door, covering it all in incomprehensible writings for any but a Fuinjutsu practitioner.

The seals suddenly receded and the door slowly swung open with a groan, creaking from the lack of use. Opening, they started to reveal their secrets. It was a few seconds full of suspense for Sasuke, he could tell, but it was also a little intriguing for him.

When the doors were fully opened they revealed a large warehouse of stores, much as they had suspected; the building was easily four times the size of Sasuke's home. Air rushed in through the doors, grasping at their clothes as it passed them and entered the vacuum.

On the way over, Sasuke had told Naruto about the impenetrable vault. The walls were made of a special kind of chakra nurtured metal, giving it incredible strength and resistance. Furthermore, the walls were lined with amazingly complex seals that absorbed all chakra based techniques that hit it, just incase someone tried to break in using Ninjutsu. This meant no chakra based attempt to could break into the vault, and the special metal made it nearly impossible for anything else to get in.

As the lights blinked on from the ceiling, Naruto and Sasuke entered slowly. The blinking lights shined to show many, many things. All around he saw rows upon rows of metal shelves that held scrolls upon scrolls, most labelled with supplies: kunai, shuriken, senbon, explosive tags, bandages, gauze, antiseptics, smoke pellets, flash tags. Further along he saw stacks of Katana, Naginata, Kodachi, Chokuto, Ninjato, Bo-staff and other weapons. In another corner, mannequins were decked out in wide varieties of armour, ranging from light-weight clothes and metals to full stacked Samurai gear.

"Well fuck... were the we involved in some sort of war when the massacre happened, or is this just incase Konoha needs a full set of supplies for it's entire army?" he asked Sasuke.

"Well, we never did get along with the Hyuga; my father may have been planning on having a small spat with them," Sasuke tried joking back.

"Yeah, let's go with that. Maybe we should have a look around. You never know, we might find something interesting and useful."

Sasuke nodded his head. "Yes, we might. If you se anything you like, feel free to take it." he offered, hesitating only for a moment before leaving in the direction of the weapons.

'Hm, he's trusting me more and more every moment. Especially if he's willing to part with something that belonged to some of his old family. That's good' Naruto thought to himself.

After walking through most of the isles, Naruto hadn't found much more. Having checked to see how many items each scroll held, He found that one scroll contained usually 100 of it's contained items. Furthermore, he had found roughly 600 of each scroll, meaning there was about 60'000 of each item, weapon or tool. The Uchiha certainly had been prepared.

Coming down to the last isles, Naruto spotted Sasuke standing by some sort of hidden door that was now open. Walking over showed him that his cousin had picked up some sort of Chokuto with a dark blue casing and completely flat and rectangular handle with no guard. It looked pretty nice.

"Copying me now, are you?" he asked jokingly.

Sasuke snorted. "Don't kid yourself. I just needed something to stop you from lopping my head off; kunai just don't cut it."

Naruto shrugged with a smile. "Well, what's through there?" he asked.

Looking through he couldn't actually see anything on the other-side of the door. It was probably a Genjutsu.

"Use your Sharingan."

Nodding, he activated it. The blackness quickly disappeared and allowed for a clear view. Instead of a room though, he only saw a small closet of sorts, the space only going about three feet deep and about six wide. A simple shelf holding several items.

In the centre was a ruby red scroll that simply read 'Sharingan', to the left was a plain white scroll labelled 'Jutsu', to the right was a deep blue scroll with the words 'Interceptor Fist' written across them. Each of these scrolls were the size of baby, showing they contained something large, or just many things.

Against the wall was a large map of Fire Country, several key points had been crossed. There was also an enlarged map of Konoha with most of it's priority buildings circled: the Hokage Tower, the Hospital, the Academy, the Anbu Barracks (according to the map), dozens of gathering places for lots of civilians, the Communications Tower and various random buildings.

Over the map were red lines depicting travel routes for attack and escape. Points were enemy forces could be forced into a choke-hold were underlined. All the lines ended up in one place though, the Hokage Tower. From there the attackers, it seemed, would blow up all surrounding buildings and create a circled trench around the tower to keep any forces from interrupting; traps were already planned to be set in that area aswell to stall for as long as possible.

Whilst that battle was going on, it looked as though an elite force of twenty were to kill the Hokage and his guards. The council was also supposed to be in session at this time. So, after killing the Hokage, the elite forces would take the Council hostage and force them to surrender Konoha.

"This was an Uchiha Coup D'etat, wasn't it?" Sasuke asked calmly, rhetorically.

"Yes, and a bloody good one at that." he answered.

It was true, that plan most likely would have succeeded, especially if that 'elite force' had a certain weasel on it. Even without Itachi, with the Uchiha's twenty best attacking together, the Hokage would have been hard pressed, especially with his age and the fact that he wouldn't be able to use any dangerous techniques because of surrounding civilians. The Third's soft heart would have been his downfall.

He looked at Sasuke and realised what this all meant. Itachi killed the Uchiha for a reason, not just power, and had been loyal to Konoha this entire time. By proxy, this meant that the Uchiha Massacre was a mission sanctioned by the Hokage and Konoha. Did Sasuke know, though?

Seeing a small trail of blood run down Sasuke's hand, where it continued to drop and splash against the floor, Naruto realised just how tense he was. He figured it out. A smile splayed across his lips as he thought of how much easier it would be to manipulate Sasuke against Konoha with him. This was his diamond in the rough.

"You realise what that means, don't you?" he asked quietly.

Sasuke's scowl deepened, as did the tension in his hands as blood trickled out at a faster pace. His eyes seemed to be staring into nothingness, but it also seemed to be focused so intently it could be called sharp. A low growl emanated from his thought, almost as shallow as a whisper, "Yes" he said.

"Itachi Uchiha was under orders from Konoha, the Hokage specifically, to eliminate the Uchiha. I always thought his cover story was strange and fallible down to the last detail," he noted idly.

It was true. He had always thought that an Uchiha killing his entire clan to prove his power was partially believable, but if that was true why did he kill the elderly, untrained children and even babies? Surely they were not the slightest test of power for an S-rank shinobi. Then there was also the fact that he only killed Uchiha that night and no-one realised that the clan had been attacked, even with Konoha's excellent seal system that alerted the Hokage of any large amounts of chakra usage outside of training areas. It all seemed to be a very poor excuse.

_"I meant we are the same in the fact that we bare a dark burden to protect Konoha, one that no-one else can; we are – or, in my case, will be – hated for" _was what Itachi had said to him that night, and it had left the seeds of doubt and curiosity in his mind about the Uchiha Massacre for years. Only now did they start to make sense.

"How do you feel about this?" he asked curiously, but put a sympathetic hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Come on, tell me. It's not everyday you find out something like this... well, for me it's starting to."

For a few moments Sasuke said nothing, just stared at nothing. But then he said "It changes nothing. Itachi betrayed the Uchiha, just in a more literal way. Well, it changes one thing; Konoha are as much to blame as Itachi." he snarled and suddenly lashed out with a punch to the wall, making it crumble and crack were his fist hit. "Damn them!"

Naruto smiled behind Sasuke's back; this was all happening perfectly. Sasuke had first been soften up by Naruto telling him of how Konoha had treated him for saving their worthless arses. Then there was how he had mentioned the way he wasn't ever told the truth, always lied to. And lastly, there had been the way Konoha had not bothered to aid Uzu as they fell; their greatest allies betrayed in an instant.

The picture he had painted was perfect; Konoha were vindictive fools who lied and cheated anyone, and then, without a care, betrayed closest friends at their whim. This had left Sasuke questioning his own beliefs and trust of Konoha, but now it had all happened to him and he had jumped to the same conclusion as Naruto had painted. The best part was that Sasuke realised it on his own, making the belief all that stronger.

"Sasuke," he said quietly, "I know what it's like, that feeling of betrayal, but first of all you need to calm down." he soothed.

Sasuke spun round, about to unleash a slew of angry retorts, but stopped himself. The anger stayed in his eyes though, specifically the left one which held two tomoe. "Why should I?" he seethed through gritted teeth.

"Because you need a calm head to decide what you're going to do next," he noticed Sasuke raise an eyebrow in interest at that, "we can't have you going of half-cocked and trying to kill the Hokage, you'd be dead and your revenge would end there. Instead, why don't you do want I'm going to?"

"Hn, fine. Tell me what you want." he demanded, anger still flaring.

"When I found out about all the secrets had been kept from, realised I could never be happy in Konoha because I was only seen as a monster, that I had been betrayed by those I trusted, I decided enough was enough. I started planning my... departure from Konoha." he smirked at that. He also remembered his more destructive plans than the one he was going to use, but they would all get him killed.

His cousin frowned for a moment, but smiled as it obviously dawned on him as to what "departure" meant. "You mean going rogue, abandoning Konoha?"

"Yes. I'm planning to do it on our first C-rank, but that is only if a chance presents itself. If not, I was simply going to wait until a mission comes along that I could. After that I was going to bargain my way into another village, or look for a missing-nin to teach me.

Why don't you join me; there is nothing left for Konoha to offer you. With you now possessing the Uchiha Jutsu library" he pointed to the thick scroll on the left, then to the other two, "and the scroll on your clans fighting style and it's knowledge on the Sharingan, you wouldn't need a teacher, you could teach yourself. Add all that to the scroll I got containing all of Uzu's techniques and some other things I have, we could become unstoppable."

"What about money? Supplies?" he asked half-heartedly. Naruto could tell he already had Sasuke, but decided to make him completely join his side.

"Supplies?" he laughed and threw his arms around him. "I'm sure we could wage war with these supplies if we wanted to, and then have some to spare. And money? I have the Namikaze and Uzumaki funds, and you have the Uchiha fortune, we could buy half of Fire country with that kind of money! No, we have more than enough of anything: kunai, shuriken, weapons, smoke bombs, exploding tags, flash tags, medical supplies, poisons, sealed foods and drinks, armour, Jutsu, knowledge, money and shinobi technique guides."

Turning back to face Sasuke, he smirked and decided to hammer home the nail. "With all of that, and without Konoha dragging us down, we could gain the power to beat Itachi, to avenge our clan!" he held out his hand, "So do you want to join me, to forsake Konoha and reach our true potential? To storm the Elemental Nations with such power and fury that they'll compare us to Madara Uchiha and Harashima Senju... No, they'll compare them to us!"

Almost without hesitating, Sasuke clasped Naruto's in his own. A determined grin on his face. This was the answer to both their dreams, their prayers, their deepest desires. This was their destiny! They both squeezed each other's hand firmly, a gesture of reassuring strength. It was a turning point that would forever mark itself upon the Elemental Nations.

"Together, we will show the world to fear our names!"

* * *

There you have it!

*First off, my small shot at a poem. I was bored, looking for an opening poem on revenge for Sasuke, but only found one with about four lines that I liked. So, thinking it was best to do it myself, I did. If you Like it, cool and thanks, but if you don't, well let me know and I won't do it again.

*Next we have the dream of Naruto awakening his Sharingan. Tell me what you thought of it, and to those Wheel of Time fans tell me if you think I described it well enough. I personally thought the Flame and Void would be an excellent shinobi tool, especially for keeping your emotions under control and remaining strong throughout interrogation and the likes.

*The eyes. I hope this gave you a good view into Naruto's new perspective of the world, himself and just his whole ideology. I wanted it to show how he looked upon the world with a darker view, but not a "I want to destroy the world" type of view. It was also to show how he wanted the world to look upon him, because to him that is just as important. In-fact, I would say Naruto takes the largest part from his personality in canon, in the fact that he still wishes to be viewed as something. Now though, he wishes to be viewed by his strength and experiences, and not as human or demon.

*Sasuke. In most fanfictions Sasuke is portrayed as extremely evil or extremely good, which are both bullshit. All this does is make readers develop a wrong view on Sasuke. In actuality he is a troubled child who lost everything he loved in a single night, and that was also to the person he trusted and respected more than any other. He is a good person with a good heart, but he no longer has the ability to open his heart or trust out of fear of losing someone again, or being betrayed in the worst possible way again. Also, he has developed an unhealthy desire, or infatuation, to kill his brother and is willing to use anybody who gets in his way. Bad, yes. Can you fault him for it, no. If someone killed everyone you cared for, revenge would be the only thing on your mind. That is what I'm trying to portray here though. Sasuke has the desire to love again, but can't trust many. His desire to kill Itachi is still strong, but he has latched onto the opportunity that Naruto has presented. Family, love, trust, and strength to gain vengeance.

Ask any questions you have and they shall be answered.

Until next chapter, peace!


	5. The End of an Era

**Yo! Sorry for the late update. I'll be honest and say it was just plain writers block, and this chapter felt like trash to write. Every word seemed to do something that I didn't want it to, or moved the sentence in the wrong direction.**

**It took a while though, but I got it to an acceptable standard, but not as good as the others I am afraid. Then saying that, I already have the next chapters planned out, and it's direction already set, unlike this son-of-a-bitch that I had to use a a transitional period.**

**To all those still following, favoriting, reviewing, and just plain reading, thank you. It's you who make this worth while as an author, so don't leave me, or I might sulk - seriously though, the feedback means a lot, especially the amazing stuff I have got so far.**

**The level of reviewing though, is only as good as the story, as i have found out through my older stories. Seriously, if you read my first one "New Convictions" you would be flaming it and screaming for my blood for such poor writing. So I am constantly going online and perfecting my English, remastering things I thought I had learned, learning new and useful writing devices all for your benefit.**

**And now for the story, my brilliant readers. I hope you enjoy, favorite, Follow, and review. **

* * *

"Sasuke! Dinner's here if you want any!" Naruto called as he dished up the food.

His mind idly wandered over the past week, recollecting all the memories that he had created. It was very odd looking at this past week. Never before had he spent time with a family member, no matter how distant they were. Though it had been very... alleviating, to describe it.

All his life he had wanted someone who shared the same blood as him; or rather, someone who wouldn't judge him as Kyuubi. He had finally found that someone, and it happened to be someone who could understand the pain of loneliness.

With the way Sasuke had easily understood the concept of Naruto's pain, and not just used hollow words, it had lifted a large burden from his shoulders. He had been able to talk about it for once and know they actually understood, not just offer comforting words (the Old Man's approach) or sneers like the villagers.

He had done the same for Sasuke as-well, he could tell. The pain Sasuke had gone through was just as bad as his own, but just like him, no-one was there to understand. It was all well and good to have someone listen, but what was the point if they didn't know what you meant? What you had been through?

Together, in small – yet helpful – doses of understanding, they had begun to juggle through their anguishes, their despair over the helplessness they felt. In the beginning moments, they saw the first small steps to unlocking all the pain they had felt over their lives, and watching it wash away. They were freeing themselves from the cage of eternal sorrow, and all it took was understanding. Not love, but understanding.

Though the understanding was helpful, they both knew they needed to do something to keep pushing forward; therefore, they had come up with a simultaneous understanding of what they absolutely had to do: more training.

Over the past week, Naruto has stayed at Sasuke's, mainly because it was easy, but also to spend more time with his cousin. Usually they would get up and have breakfast, go out for a routine set of exercises. Although, Naruto had increased Sasuke's regime, mainly due to it being a lot behind his own. To help with all the exercises, he had introduced his cousin to Chakra Weights, the same ones he wore.

With Sasuke now increasing his fitness regime and wearing weights, he had started to catch up to Naruto, although he had yet to take of his weights. They had great effects on Sasuke – seeing as he was more naturally fit than most his age, he adapted to them quickly and reaped the benefits – although it would be a while before he started getting up to Naruto's level.

After their fitness exercises, they had moved on to Taijutsu. Both had seen fit to swap pointers here. Naruto's Kuiken was a great match for both of them, as it relied mainly on speed, reflexes and flexibility. Sasuke's Interceptor Fist was the same, in respects to matching the pair. It required great ability in tracking your opponents movements, predicting incoming attacks and dexterity.

The best thing, though, was that each style covered their weaknesses. Whilst the Kuiken's offensive abilities were overwhelming and deadly with it's speed, it was lacking in the defensive. By all means, it was okay in defence, but it didn't really offer the same protection as other styles. Then the Interceptor Fist's defence was astounding, using it's opponents movements against them, expending only tiny amounts of effort to block, redirect or counter. It even became almost unbeatable with the Sharingan's abilities to track even the fastest of movement and it's ability to predict an enemies next movement; but it had next to no offence, relying mainly on counter attacks.

This was were the magic had happened. After realising both styles' faults, Naruto had seen fit to merge them both, resulting in them both using the Interceptor Fist in defence and the Kuiken in offence. It would make for a very formidable Taijutsu style combination that would improve them both to amazing levels.

Unfortunately, Naruto hadn't unlocked the abilities of the Sharingan he needed the most to benefit him – the ability to predict movement and the ability to copy. With those he would be able to start the better part of the Interceptor Fist training and would be able to copy Sasuke's movements to faster learn his style. Though the clones certainly helped learn it.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had already unlocked the abilities to copy and predict movement. These both allowed him to start the last phase of the Interceptor Fist training, and allowed him to copy most of the Kuiken that Naruto had learnt, though he was still developing the speed for that.

They both still had a very long way to go with their newest style of fighting, but they would make it work. Their main faults lied in the transition between both styles, as they each relied on their old style too much. Hopefully after a while that problem would fix itself, and they would start to rely on both instead of one.

At the end of the day, both of them would return to Sasuke's home. Naruto would read books from the vast Uchiha library, his clones helping, and Sasuke would generally just rest, exhausted from the day unlike Naruto. They would also play games of chess, shogi, and various other strategic and mentally challenging tasks. Sasuke had yet to win.

The effect of this time together hadn't exactly made them close, but it had made them closer to each other than they were to anyone else. In time, though, that could all change. Time, understanding, and freedom; they were the key to accepting each as not just family, but loved ones, precious people.

Placing the plates down on the table, Naruto looked over his work. Today was a simple Onigiri - rice ball - dish wrapped in seaweed and stuffed with some smoked Skip-jack Tuna and tomatoes. A relatively easy meal to cook, just as enjoyable to eat.

Pulling out a wooden chair, Naruto sat down as Sasuke entered the room. Naruto nodded to the meal. "You said you liked Onigiri with Okaka and tomatoes. So there it is. Now eat." he commanded.

A slight widening of the eyes was all that Naruto could identify as a reaction from Sasuke, showing the surprise that he knew was their. Sasuke was probably wondering why he had cooked it for him, and how he had even remembered something so small.

It passed though, as Sasuke sat down at the table, a small smile on his lips. It was a small sign of their growing relationship; from what he could remember, Sasuke never smiled. They had started to accept each other into their lives.

Sasuke frowned as he began to eat as-well. "I can't believe you're a good cook; I can only do the basic stuff" he complemented, or at least Naruto took it that way.

"Yeah. It was that or starve." he snorted.

Over the week, Naruto had taken over the cooking of the house, though not for wanting. Early on, the second night, Naruto had found out that Sasuke was most likely seasoning his food with poison or garbage, most likely both. So, he had taken over and started taking care of their meals, cooking nice tasting food and stuff with all the nutrients they needed as active ninja.

They both fell into a natural, for them, silence. During the week they had talked little, more like a short exchanging of words here and there, but it had been what they were both comfortable with. Due to their self-imposed exclusion from most social events, they both didn't like to freely gossip like others, only saying what was important or socially required.

Their relationship as family would seem almost non-existent to most, but those who knew them and observed them long enough would see it. They were both comfortable in each other's presence, attentive and respectful to the other, and always doing or looking out for the other in small ways. They were growing together as ninja, people, and family – to a small extent.

Naruto almost felt bad for manipulating Sasuke in those small ways that he had, but he didn't regret it. He would do anything to keep this small bond, or rather his largest one. After all, the only reason he manipulated Sasuke was to protect him from the tyranny and monopolisation of Konoha. For Sasuke, not himself. But at the same time, it was.

Something hit the desk in-front of him and he picked them up curiously. It was a grey Konoha Chunin flak-vest. It was different, though. He realised it didn't have the raised collar that would normally protect the neck or the shoulder guards – the thick raised shoulder pads, it still had a thin layer of protection there to support the vest. The vest also felt lighter, far lighter. Under prodding, he found that it had far thinner metal plates on the inside, but they seemed far stronger than the thicker, metal ones in the normal vest. Without the added weight of the neck guard and shoulder pads, and the thinner, lighter metal, it would make the vest extremely light and less impeding of his movements.

The other, more personal touches, though, were just as good. If not, better. The inside of the vest had soft padded leather and sponge, making it more comfortable to wear and would reduce a lot of impact force from anything that the metal stopped. There were more pockets as-well, allowing for him to store various sealing equipment. Pockets for things like paper, scrolls, paint brushes, ink, documents and many other things.

Turning it around he saw three things. First was a strap that would securely hold his sword in place, instead of him having to buy a sling that would go all the way round his chest to hold it. The second was a symbol at the top right side: the Uzumaki Swirl. In it's glorious dark red with black outlining and black swirls, it stood proudly. Thirdly, and lastly, was another symbol on the top left: the Uchiha Uchiwa (fan). It's white and red fan looking very similar in it's circular design to that of the Uzumaki Swirl, and it stood as gloriously proud as-well.

"I knew you had the other one because it was lighter and suited your style more, but I thought that I could get you a personally designed one – that and you could use some pockets if you're going to be a front-line Seal-Master." Naruto looked back to Sasuke as he started talking, listening intently.

"I had the shoulders and neck-guard removed to increase you freedom of movement, and had the thick metal plates replaced with some Anbu standard thin plates – 1/10th of the weight, 4 times stronger. I even had some padding added. After that I had the pockets, sword-strap, and Uzumaki and Uchiha clan emblems added for personal effect. A gift for becoming Chunin." Sasuke smiled slightly as he finished, trying to look cool and kind, but it looked a bit too twisted on Sasuke's face – Naruto wouldn't mention that though, as this meant a lot.

Then Sasuke pulled something else out.

"This is a clan necklace" he threw over a necklace with a black string and a small, metal Uchiha symbol hanging from it, "it's given to an Uchiha once they unlock the Sharingan, and with it comes the Uchiha name. Believe it or not, your case has happened before – an out clan marriage that ends up with the non-Uchiha grandson unlocking the Sharingan. When this happened the clan head at the time came up with this, the Uchiha necklace that is only given to clan members who have unlocked the Sharingan and can claim to be full Uchiha. Those Uchiha who didn't unlock the Sharingan still kept the Uchiha name, but they weren't considered full Uchiha."

As he finished yet again, Sasuke stood and smiled – if he did it again Naruto was seriously going to question whether this was Sasuke or not. "Welcome to the clan. Welcome to the..." he hesitated for a moment, his smile turning down: the mention of his family had that effect. It quickly turned back to normal though.

"...family." he finished softly, a smile still playing at his lips as he said the word 'family'.

Naruto felt the stray tear leave his left eye, but didn't care as it caressed his cheek. It travelled down his face with a strange, wet, and soft caress. It followed the contours of his face before falling to the floor, the glistening orb of water making the tiniest splash on the table.

This was the first gift he had received in his life, other than the ones the Hokage gave him – they didn't count, he was doing his job. For the first time ever, someone had put personal effort, time and positive emotion into something for him. It felt amazing – the material of the vest, and the emotional build-up.

Throughout his life, he had been living on hate for breakfast, sorrow for lunch, despair for dinner, and could wash it all down with some tears at night – if he still had the ability to cry, that is. This, though, was something he had never felt before. Pure contentment. He felt like he belonged, and was so content to just take up residence and live in that feeling, to bury himself with it.

"I... do know what to say... but I'd rather settle for this: ever tell anyone I cried, and I'll cut your eyes out."

Sasuke cracked a wider smile. "It's already burned into my memory, so I can torment you over it for years." he replied cockily, his Sharingan blazing.

His warm smile faltered as he heard that. _Damn it! He'll remember it forever now! _He thought sourly. Looking back at the symbols though, his smile faltered altogether. "Wait. I can't wear this; the Hokage told me to keep my parents a secret." he realised out loud.

"That's true," Sasuke said, but never lost his smile. "But your Uchiha relations have nothing to do with your father, or they don't have to be. All we have to do is say you were separated from your Uchiha parents the day of the Kyuubi attack and was used for the sealing, but no-one ever realised you were Uchiha due to your hair colour. Then we say that you activated your Sharingan when attacked and found out you were an Uchiha – in-fact, I already started spreading those rumours earlier, whilst you were training. Konoha should be getting hit with solid bricks of surprise, right about now." he said with a smirk.

Naruto stared at him for a few moments, before suddenly bursting out in raucous laughter. He laughed so hard that his throat seemed far too dry by the end and was more like hacking than laughing, but he carried on. Wiping a tear from his eye, he turned to Sasuke who had his eyebrow raised in confusion, questioning him.

"You know that my hair is red now," he started to clarify, "and that I keep it blonde even though it reminds me of my father? Yes, well do you know why I do that?"

Sasuke shook his head in a negative. Naruto smiled devilishly. "Simple, really: It pisses off the civilians. They all think that it's the Kyuubi mocking them when I walk around looking like the copy of the Fourth: same blue eyes, same blonde hair, same lean features. So, I kept my hair the same to torment them further, until we leave."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, "Serves the fools right. But how does that explain why you were laughing earlier?"

"Now they are going to think I've copied their precious Uchiha, and they're going to hate me all the more. What's truly funny, though, is that they can't do shit to me without the Hokage throwing them into T&I or me killing them."

A small twitch spread out from the edge of Sasuke's lips, and soon enough he was trying to muffle a small chuckle. "You're the devil incarnate, not the Kyuubi." he joked lightly.

Naruto just snorted back. "They can all drown in their own piss, for all I care;" he smirked "but watching them trying to convince themselves that they're aren't looking at the Fourth is very entertaining."

Sasuke grinned at that comment, obviously enjoying the thought of that happening. Over the course of his life, Sasuke had already attained a dislike of the civilians – mainly due to their insistent pampering and for their need to stick their noses into his business. However, over his short time with Naruto, it had turned into a vicious and deadly loathing – he despised them.

Sighing, Naruto decided to do what he had been considering to – giving a gift he was not sure about giving. Looking at the two gifts that Sasuke had now given him, one of which would have been extremely difficult for him to give, he had come to a final conclusion. He would give it to him soon.

Getting up, Naruto put the dishes from dinner into the dish-washer and turned it on. Walking to the door, without looking back, he said, "Sasuke."

He heard his cousin turn to look at him, he could feel the questioning gaze on his back. "Yeah?" he replied.

"Thanks."

Sasuke would have replied, but Naruto was already out of the room. He didn't like the mushy crap and half-arsed emotional scenes that people so relished, but he did like sincerity, he liked to make sure those he cared for – a small number – knew what he felt.

Shutting the bedroom behind him, Naruto released the breath he had been holding. A small smile played across his lips.

"Maybe this won't be so bad, after all."

XXXxxxXXX

Pulling on his Chunin-vest, Naruto looked at himself in the mirror. Contemplatively sweeping his gaze over himself, checking every detail.

His blonde hair was cut just like his father's: long, messy, spiky and gravity-defying, and with two jaw-length bangs framing his face. His features were lean and sharp like his fathers, showing very little of his mother. Purple eyes fixed in his sockets now, his only remnant of his mother, except his hair that was hidden by a seal.

He wore black Shinobi trousers, wrapped in white bandages at the ankle, going up to his black sandals. Over his chest was a black, sleeveless vest, and over that was his new grey Chunin-vest. On his arms were some black fingerless-gloves (so that they did not impede his hand-seals) that covered most of his arms, only leaving the shoulders visible. All-in-all, he looked like an Anbu without a mask.

Kaiten Suru no Shinku Shi, the Whirling Crimson Death, his sword, was showing over his shoulder. The blood-red handle was clear as day, the black as midnight sheath was a beautiful as every time he looked at it. From it's pommel, though, there was a new attachment. Hanging from the bottom of the pommel was a dangling chord, to which was attached the Uchiha clan necklace.

He had decided to add it there as his own way of a symbolic gesture. The sword represented, to him, his Uzumaki heritage and only family ties; it was his most prized possession. But, he had then added something else to it: the Uchiha Clan Necklace. It showed, to him and those who knew him (Sasuke) that he valued it incredibly. He now had two important possessions, and both came from his clans.

Smiling, he walked out of the bedroom door, sliding it shut behind him as he did. Walking through the Uchiha house, which was decorated in a very traditional and wooden style, unlike most modern buildings around Konoha, he went towards his destination: Sasuke's room.

Knowing that Sasuke wouldn't have heard his silent approach on the wooden floors, he knocked on the wooden panels of the sliding door, alerting Sasuke of his arrival. It was a ninja tradition, he had read, that one friendly ninja would always clearly show his arrival, so as to not appear as an assassin. He wasn't going to assassinate Sasuke, but he liked the idea of the tradition.

"Ready?" Naruto called through the door.

His reply was Sasuke coolly opening the door, sliding it shut as he walked out. They looked each other in the eye, then Sasuke nodded his head and began to walk towards the front door. Naruto followed shortly after.

He quickly gave his cousin a once over. On his wrists and hands were some dark-grey elbow-length gloves with no fingers, and dull metal plates adorning the top – there for protection, and dulled so as to not shine. Tucked into those gloves was a long-sleeved black Shinobi jacket – which opened to show a mesh shirt – the Uchiha Uchiwa on one shoulder and the Uzumaki Swirl on the other, and dark-grey accents lining the collars.

His lower body followed the same colour scheme: black sandals that left his toes open, but were wrapped in white cloth up to just below his knees; black Shinobi pants tucked into the cloth, and the pockets were accented with dark-grey. The only difference was a dark-grey belt, to which he had tucked his Chokuto into just behind his back, but allowed it to lean to the side for a quick draw and surprise attack.

His new attire was far more befitting of a ninja. The last blue and white was almost as much of a give-away as his old orange jump-suit. He looked like a ninja, a meticulous shadow of death; he was an assassin of the Uchiha family.

"You ready for today?" Sasuke asked without looking at Naruto.

He stepped out of the door with Sasuke and started walking towards the Uchiha compounds gates. He replied calmly, "Why should I be? I was promoted by the Hokage himself, our Jounin instructor can't rescind that order without direct authorisation from the Hokage. The worst he can do is make me a Genin, because I was officially made a fully-fledged ninja. All he can do is demote me, he can't remove me from the Shinobi program."

Sasuke merely grunted in acceptance of his answer.

They walked a calm, but fast pace, not wanting to take too long. The dusty streets of Konoha were incredibly quiet though, and barely a person was out. This was the time that people woke up to get ready for the day, and a few opened their shops. Only ninja operated this early.

Konoha's roads and streets were deceptively simple, but in reality were the biggest death traps around. To reach the Hokage's tower, the hospital, the Academy, the food storages, the weapons storages, you had to go through at least three choke points from which a stationed group of twenty ninja could kill a hundred others. And that is if you knew the direct route there.

Almost every building was made of wood, which seemed like a stupid idea for a village of people that waged war with the worlds greatest arsenal of fire. But almost every building was made of the Shodaime's Wood Release, making it tougher than steel and more durable to fire than water. Though due to the Shodaime's death most of the new buildings were made with seals placed into them, to give them the same properties as the Shodai's wood.

After a few minutes though, they made it to the Academy with about ten minutes to spare.

"To think, this will be our last time in this mockery of an educational establishment for ninja..." Naruto mocked as he entered his old classroom, Sasuke at his side. "It's more like a reciting of facts from a book; knowledge is useful, but not without the actual ability to apply it appropriately."

Sasuke grunted in agreement as he gave the classroom a once over; bland grey walls, lines of wooden desks with matching chairs, and some random nobodies who were also early. He ignored everything and went to his seat, sitting down smoothly. Naruto joined him in the next seat over.

After a few minutes of glaring at the wall, in Sasuke's case, and hearing the hushed shouts as people tried to whisper about Naruto, they were both near the end of their patience. It was very annoying listen to potential ninja being incredibly loud when trying to be silent, and gossiping like school-girls – well, school-boys. Thankfully, though, the rest of class started to enter along with Iruka-sensei.

As they all walked in, they all gave Naruto either a quick and subtle glance, or an obvious stare; they all wanted to know if the rumours were true, which they obviously were, what with his sitting next to Sasuke and wearing the Uchiha emblem.

There was no hushed whispers from the clan heirs; they would have heard the truth from their parents, the clan heads of Konoha's most notorious clans. They simply nodded their heads in greeting, or waved, and sat down; their was more important things about to happen.

"Sasuke-kun!" a girl screeched.

"Naruto-kun!" another screeched.

Naruto and Sasuke shivered in unison; those girls were already here. They both knew without even turning around that the two to call their names were running over to them, and who they were. That was simple: the leaders of the fan-clubs, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Both were on opposing sides; Sakura liked Naruto, and Ino liked Sasuke, they were both annoying harpies.

Both Naruto and Sasuke heard the slight 'whoosh' of air as the two girls left the floor, attempting to jump onto their respective crush's back. The two Uchiha clansmen acted on years of honed instinct; they leant forward, allowing both girls to fly over them and crash onto the floor.

The room went instantly silent as they looked at the duo on the floor. To say they had landed precariously was an understatement, doing the situation no justice what-so-ever. The landing was both marvellous for the male viewers, shocking for the female viewers, and embarrassing for the... actors.

Sakura lay flat on the ground, her pink hair and red dress pooling around her slightly. Ino lay on top of her, face down... her lips on Sakura's.

Ino reacted first and lifted her head up, pushing herself to her knees. She quickly scrambled away from the pink haired girl, rubbing her lips on her dress violently, trying to get rid of any of the other girls presence.

"Ahhkkk" she coughed out, "what the hell, Forehead? You finally seeing that Naruto's out of your league and trying to seduce me instead? Huh?"

The pinkette blushed violently, her cheeks a shade of red that matched her dress. "No way in hell I'd go for a slut like you, Ino-pig!" she spat back, not letting her rival get the better of her.

Both girls quickly went to swing for the other, fists threatening in the air, but were stopped by a loud cough.

All heads swivelled to see Iruka standing there patiently, arms folded against his green Chunin vest. "Have you two quite finished, or should the all of us continue to watch you two wrestle on the floor?" he asked calmly, his eyebrow lifted questioningly.

Both girls got up and scurried to their seats.

"Good. I shall move on then." He stood straighter, all of a sudden. His arms went to fold behind his back now. His gaze swept over all of them.

"You may have all been hearing some rumours of late. I have been told by Hokage-sama to confirm and deny whether or not they hold substance, so as to put your minds at ease."

Everyone looked at Naruto now, with sideways glances or full on stares. They all knew what he was talking about. Konoha had been run amok with rumours about the blonde, all varying in from the improbable, to the impossible, to the insane.

A boy raised his hand.

"Yes, Shiro?" Iruka called on the boy.

The boy hesitated for a moment, under the scrutiny of his class and teacher. He quickly built up the courage to speak as he asked, "Is... is it true that Naruto is an... an Uchiha?"

"Yes, he was found to be through blood test and through the fact that he activated the Sharingan."

There was a sudden burst of whispers, but they were silenced as Iruka's hand came up. "Silence" he said loudly, demandingly, "and I shall tell you all the facts."

The class instantly settled and paid avid attention, all wanting to know the latest gossip. And so Iruka began his tale with the theft of the Forbidden Scroll of Seals.

XXXxxxXXX

Sasuke barely listened to the cover story they had used for Naruto, and the anomaly that he was. His cousin had warned him that Konoha would do this, so as to not appear stupid, weak, or as though they were wasting potential.

The main thing that was new and caught his attention was the reason for Naruto being in the Academy, and being a Chunin. They had changed it so that explained how he, a Chunin level ninja, had failed the basic Genin test.

Instead, it had been made out that Naruto was a ninja prodigy who was a Genin at 7 – one year before their class had been made – and had been placed into this years class to root out a spy for Orochimaru, an infamous S-rank missing-nin.

Over the years Naruto had been pretending to be failing, so as to lure out said spy. When Naruto failed for the third and final time, Mizuki, the now identified spy, took this chance to gain a secret from Konoha using him.

Naruto had played along, gathered the proof necessary to charge Mizuki, and had then executed him on the spot. Through that he had saved Konoha's secrets and protected it from harm, and the Hokage had promoted him to Chunin for his excellent undercover work. He would now be entering a team with one of the squads that were made today, as he still had things to learn.

This cover story had been made to make other nations wary of Konoha, and so as to not appear to be slipping and letting prodigies slip through their fingers. This way it covered all venues. They had also added in the fact that he had been stripped of his Uchiha name so that no enemy nation would know that he existed, and if Sasuke were to be assassinated then Konoha would keep the Sharingan.

"So there you have it, the successful mission of Chunin Naruto Uchiha-" Iruka started to finish, but was interrupted.

"Uzumaki-Uchiha. I have used the name Uzumaki for many years, and I shall honour that" Naruto growled, daring Iruka to challenge him.

From the past week, he knew that Naruto was touchy about people who didn't respect his last name, especially if people that didn't know who they were after all that the Uzumaki had done for them. If there was one thing he knew not to insult, it was Naruto's last name. He might kill someone if they did.

He did not. Instead he coughed into his hand and carried on. "The successful mission of Chunin Naruto Uzumaki-Uchiha, and his outstanding service to Konoha." he finished.

The class gave a clap, not sure of what to do. All the civilians looked at him in awe, whilst the clan heirs gave him a respectful nod. They knew that missions weren't something that deserved praise, they were a ninja duty.

"Now for team selections."

The class was silenced instantly. This was it. This was what they had waited for, for 5 years of academy work. It was time to become ninja.

Sasuke didn't pay attention again. Naruto had already only told him to pay attention to teams 7,8, and 10. They were the only ones that would pass, and the ones that they would be on. How Naruto knew this he did not know, but simply left it to the answer he had recently created for everything he knew: "Because it's Naruto".

The teams were listed one after the other, one failure to another. Until finally team 7 came up.

"Team 7 is Naruto Uzumaki-Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha, and Shino Aburame under Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 consists of Hinata Hyuga, Sakura Haruno, and Shikamaru Nara under Kurenai Yuhi. And finally is Kiba Inazuka, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi under Asuma Sarutobi as Team 10." Iruka finished by placing a his clipboard back onto his desk with a clack.

"I will just say this, before you all go." he stared across the class room, looking each and every student in the eye, gaining their full attention.

"I have had five years, the best five years of my life, to teach you all. I have seen you all as loud mouthed brats, who cried over scratches, turn into fine young men and women. You all have incredible potential, even the Hokage who has seen every Genin graduation since Konoha's inception has said this class stands out above al others. You have more potential than any before you, and the Will of Fire stands brighter than ever right now."

His words carried through the silent class room, every student absorbing the praise that was given. Every student sat straighter, held their heads higher; Iruka's words made their resolution stronger. And again, he looked everyone in the eyes, his eyes piercing to their deepest depths, and showing nothing but the greatest of pride... and love.

"What is the sound of a ninja?" he asked in level tone.

"Silence," every student answered.

"Where do we hide?" again, he asked in a level tone.

Again, came the unanimous reply: "In plain sight."

In the shadow of the fire that holds us, and guides us."

"When do we strike?"

"When our enemies believe they are safest; when they least expect it."

"Why do we fight?" this time he asked loudly, his voice demanding the correct answer.

"For our nation, our village, our friends, family, and the Will of Fire!" the answer came back louder, every student almost shouting in response, determination brimming in their eyes, like an unquenchable fire.

"When do we stop?"

"Never! We fight to the last!" the answers came louder again, some now standing from their seats.

"What is our greatest strength?"

"Our comrades, and our Will of Fire!"

Iruka smiled brilliantly, his gaze holding the entire classes. Every student held his stare, and he nodded in approval.

"Will you ever give up?"

"No!"

"Will you always move forward?"

"Yes!"

"Are you willing to give your life for that of your comrades?"

Most would have hesitated, and Sasuke would have sworn around half of the class would have before now.

"Yes!" they all shouted, not a moment of hesitation. Sasuke was surprised by his classes new found determination, and re-evaluated his opinion of them.

Smiling, Iruka put his left arm behind his back and placed his right hand on his heart. "Then let us make it a vow, a promise to always go forward, never backwards."

Every student copied his stance and was now standing, Sasuke even felt himself taken over by this determination, and he saw Naruto do the same beside him.

"I vow to forever move forward, head held high, back straight. I shall never look backwards, never move backwards; I shall only ever move into the future." The students vowed the same vow.

"I shall protect my comrades with my own body; my heart a shield that protects, my body a sword to strike down their foes."

"Fear shall never claim me, bravery shall not carry me, emotions shall not take me. I shall become the perfect Shinobi, to protect those who stand with me today."

"I shall protect the Will of Fire, and all that I hold dear."

Suddenly, Iruka bowed deeply. "It has been an honour to teach you. Thank you," he said with such emotion and sincerity that most were shocked.

Quickly, though, everyone got over their surprise and returned the bow. As Iruka lifted his head, he saw the entire class bowing before him, even Naruto and Sasuke.

"Thank You, Sensei!" they all shouted in unison.

He looked out across the class, all of the students kept their heads down. Though he saw a few things: the timid and shy Hinata was standing with a sense of strength he had never seen before, her eyes brimming with the Will of Fire; the lazy Shikamaru stood straightly, not a single part of his body was slouching; the loud and brash Sakura and Ino were silent; the proud and noble Naruto and Sasuke were bowed low like everyone else; the disrespectful and arrogant Kiba stood with his fists clenched, head bowed and unmoving with great respect; the rotund Choji had put his food down to bow properly; and the stoic Shino shook with determination, head low.

He smiled again, unable to stop the tears caressing his cheeks. He tried to wipe them away, but to no avail as he left the classroom, not saying a word as he walked out, leaving behind his first and only class.

Before Iruka left, Sasuke heard the whispered words of his old sensei.

"Thank you, all of you...goodbye." A light an wet splash of tears hitting wooden floorboards was heard by Sasuke as the door was slid shut, forever ending class Umino.

* * *

**And there you have it, unfortunately.**

**Like I said, I just couldn't get a single thing right in that chapter, other than one or two pieces I liked. **

**With Naruto I was trying to bring his emotions up, the ones I haven't used much until now. I tried to make him more human, and show the pieces of his old self that still remain, or are being rekindled, whilst keeping his darker persona.**

**Just to clarify, he isn't Dark or evil, he is a Shinobi, and a traumatized one who finds it hard to trust and open up. He isn't an evil bastard out to kill everyone and anything, he is just trying to create his own little happiness in this world he was thrown into. **

**Now, I shall love you and leave you, but leave you with a challenge. This will relate to how quickly I repost, and it depends on you readers. Should you do well i shall make more effort to post quicker, and should you fail, I will take more time with it. After all, this does take a lot of my time away, and makes it hard to be sociable when you have to tell your mates to f*** off because your busy. Seriously, they get so moody. **

**The challenge is thus:**

**The number of reviews I get relates to how quickly I repost:**

**10 = 4 weeks.**

**20 = 3 weeks**

**30 = 2 weeks**

**40 = 1 week.**

**You may all thinking I am being a bastard, but this is fair exchange in my opinion. Your effort that takes 5 minutes to review, makes me put hours and hours of work into a single chapter. Which do you think is harder? **

**Right, so that is your challenge as my readers, as I wish to see if my hours of typing, planning, and proof-reading is wirth five minutes of your time, other than the entertainment my work provides. **

**Yours,**

**- Maunderse**


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